A national trend – car thieves – targeting Hyundai’s & Kia’s landed in Morrisville Borough with would be thieves working the streets, according to Chief of Police Rich Ciampa.
At Tuesday night’s Council meeting Ciampa said car thefts and attempted car thefts have been a growing concern of his in recent weeks.
“With about three weeks of the month passed, we had three motor vehicle thefts and quite a few attempted thefts. That matches our high for the year. It doesn’t seem like a lot, but it definitely is. And they all happened in around a span of less than a week,” Ciampa said.
The thieves, we think are coming from Trenton because we had a couple cars that were stolen from Trenton and recovered here.. …They’re targeting Hyundai’s and Kia’s” so we want to get the message out, he said.
Hyundai and Kia thefts have been trending nationwide for several years now, authorities said.
Experts cite two main reasons for the spike in thefts; thieves have been targeting certain Hyundai and Kia models (roughly 2011-2022) because they often lack engine immobilizers, a common anti-theft device, making them easy to steal using a screwdriver and USB cable after viral TikTok videos exposed the vulnerability, leading to a massive theft surge and subsequent legal action, settlements, and efforts to provide free software fixes and anti-theft upgrades.
These thefts started spiking again in May 2025 across many Lower Bucks municipalities. In July, Bristol Township Police added extra patrols in Levittown after a spike in reported thefts and attempted thefts in their jurisdiction of these vehicle models.
Bucks County authorities warned KIA and Hyundai owners in August about a social media challenge encouraging thefts of these two vehicle models also.
“Please lock your doors, right? At the very least, lock your doors. Try to park in well lit areas if you can. And if you can invest in some sort of steering wheel lock, that will help keep your car in the parking space you left it in the night,” Ciampa said.
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