Metro Nashville Council is set to vote on a resolution settling a lawsuit against Kia and Hyundai, a deal that would net the city $747,819 after attorneys' fees to help cover the cost of a car-theft epidemic that overwhelmed local police in 2023. The gross settlement figure is $1,222,242.35, but $474,423.35 in attorneys' fees and litigation costs will be deducted before the money reaches city coffers.
A Lawsuit Born From a Viral Theft Wave
The resolution stems from a 2024 lawsuit filed by the Metropolitan Government and other cities across Davidson County against Hyundai Motor Company, Hyundai Motor America, Kia Corporation and Kia America, Inc., according to WSMV. The suit alleged public nuisance, negligence and gross negligence, claiming the automakers failed to install theft-prevention technology in vehicles they manufactured. That failure, the city argued, drove increased costs for the Metro Nashville Police Department to investigate and retrieve stolen Kias and Hyundais, according to a Metro Council agenda analysis cited by the station.
The case was identified in court records as 8:24-cv-01702 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. The litigation landed before District Judge James V. Selna in Santa Ana.
How Bad Did the Theft Surge Get?
The scale of the problem in Nashville was staggering. Thieves stole more than 1,700 Kia and Hyundai vehicles in Metro Nashville in 2023, a 555% spike compared to 2022, according to nash.news. WSMV, citing its own reporting, attributed the wave to a viral video that led to a more than 400% increase in Kia and Hyundai thefts that year. Social media posts had circulated showing how to bypass ignitions on the affected models using nothing more than a basic USB cord, per nash.news reporting.
The root cause traced back to a mechanical omission. Only about 26% of 2015 model year Kia and Hyundai vehicles sold in the United States were equipped with engine immobilizers, compared to an industry average of 96% for other manufacturers, according to the Maryland Office of the Attorney General. Those immobilizers prevent an engine from starting without a matching smart key signal, a safeguard most other automakers had long made standard.
Nashville Joins a National Legal Push
Nashville was far from alone in taking Kia and Hyundai to court. More than two dozen municipal governments pursued similar claims, arguing the automakers had externalized security design flaws onto local police departments, according to Legal Newsline.
That municipal push ran alongside separate state and consumer actions. In December 2025, a coalition of 36 state attorneys general — co-led by Connecticut and Minnesota — finalized a multistate settlement requiring Kia and Hyundai to equip all future U.S. vehicles with engine immobilizers, offer free hardware retrofits, and allocate $9 million between $4.5 million in consumer restitution and $4.5 million for states' litigation expenses, per the Washington State Office of the Attorney General. Separately, a $200 million consumer class-action settlement providing up to $145 million in out-of-pocket reimbursements — with individual owners eligible for up to $4,500 for total vehicle losses — received final federal approval in October 2024, according to law firm Quinn Emanuel.
Nationwide Scope of the Theft Trend
Kia and Hyundai models were targeted in Nashville.
Hoodline has previously covered how the same ignition exploit reached far beyond Nashville, including two Glendale boys accused of Kia thefts and a felon caught fleeing in a stolen Hyundai in St. Louis. An adult Phoenix-area theft-ring member was separately sentenced to more than seven years for activity involving over $600,000 in damages. The broader theft trend also drew attention beyond Phoenix.
Local Thefts Have Since Dropped Sharply
The settlement vote comes as the crisis that prompted it has already eased considerably in Nashville. Auto theft reports in Metro Nashville dropped by more than 34% by this September as software updates were distributed to affected vehicles and police stepped up targeted enforcement, per nash.news.
The Metro Nashville Police Department also reported a related decline in gun crime tied to vehicle break-ins: firearms stolen from vehicles fell to 928 in 2024, down by 281 from 2023, amid an auto-theft initiative that made 1,036 arrests and recovered 560 stolen cars, according to the Metro Nashville Police Department. Kia and Hyundai have developed software updates intended to help prevent the thefts, according to WSMV's reporting on the settlement resolution.
If approved, the $747,819 net recovery would help cover the city's increased police investigation and vehicle-recovery costs that piled up during the height of the theft wave, though the settlement does not appear to resolve broader questions about long-term liability for the design flaw. The resolution now awaits a formal vote from Metro Council.
