NEW ORLEANS — It’s a story that’s been told hundreds of times in the past year: a Kia or Hyundai stolen from the streets of New Orleans with nothing but a USB cord.
It happened to Taylor Rose’s 2020 Kia Optima sometime in the early morning hours of April 15 on Napoleon Avenue.
“They don't they don't care about you. They only care about themselves,” Rose said.
He was out with a friend, and returned in the early morning hours to find his back window on the ground where his car had been parked. The 19-year-old said he could not believe what he was seeing.
“I was like, My car's gone. It's not where I left it. And I just dropped to the floor,” Rose said.
But his car was swiped just 15 hours after he rolled out of the Premier Kia of Kenner Parking lot, with the promise that the manufacturer’s new security software upgrade would protect his car from easy theft.
The work order shows the job was completed, and the car was ready for pickup Friday afternoon. A police report taken by the New Orleans Police Department said the car was gone from the streets of New Orleans by 1:45 on Saturday morning.
Kia tells Eyewitness News this is the first reported case of a vehicle with the software upgrade being stolen anyway.
Rose is frustrated.
“A lot of questioning on what did you fix? Like, what… what was your attempt? What? What exactly did you fix in this?” he said.
Rose’s 2020 Kia Optima was his first car. He spent months working at Raising Cane’s saving up to buy it. His parents surprised him at work with the vehicle less than 18 months ago.
“I worked hard for it. And it's just it's no longer in my possession, which still gets to me,” he said.
Taylor’s father, Scott Rose, is a sergeant with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office. He said as soon as he and his wife got a call from their son, they knew the car would be used nefariously.
“And I told my wife that they're going to use this car up to commit other crimes. So, we've seen this day in day out,” Sgt. Rose said.
The thefts of Kias and Hyundais started in the summer of 2022, when a viral video showed that key-turn-to-start Kias could be stolen without a key.
The theft of those vehicles - using just USB cords - exploded nationwide. A quarter of car thefts in New Orleans in 2022 were Kias and Hyundai vehicles.
The numbers in Jefferson Parish are similar. According to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, of the 154 vehicles stolen from January to March of 2023, 52 were Kias and Hyundais.
In early 2023, some insurance companies stopped writing new policies for the vulnerable vehicles. Then, the manufacturers began giving out free wheel locks to drivers.
And three months ago, Kia and Hyundai rolled out a software update to 2011 to 2021 vehicles. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, about 8.4 million vehicles are eligible for the upgrade.
So, is what happened to Taylor’s car a fluke? Was the update not fully installed? Or is it a weakness in the software?
The dealership had no immediate answers for Scott and his wife when they went asking how this could have happened.
“Whoever helped her [Rose] said, ‘Oh, that's impossible. Now, not after what we just did to the vehicle. That's impossible.’ And my wife's telling them, ‘Well, sir, it is possible because it was stolen. It's stolen from New Orleans.’” Sgt. Rose said.
Days after the theft, Taylor Rose got a call from an NOPD detective to let him know his car was found in the 900 block of Howard Avenue, near the intersection with O’Keefe Avenue. At first, he said he was excited. His father said he came flying down the stairs with the news.
“I felt a lot of reassurance, not knowing that it was totaled at the time, just reassurance. Okay, my property's found. And I'm hoping to get it back. And then she [the detective] was explaining to me how it was totaled,” Taylor said.
Totaled. The photos from the detective show major damage to the car’s front end and a missing rear window. Inside, the situation is worse. The steering column was ripped apart, both airbags were deployed, there was live ammunition in the center console, and the photo shows a USB port tapped into the steering column and another cord in the dashboard.
“After all the updates that they just did, it's still stolen. This was incredible," Sgt. Rose said after seeing the photos. Eyewitness News presented all of this to Kia’s communications department, who got their Consumer Affairs team on the case. They tell us Taylor’s car is the only noted report of a car stolen after the upgrade.
We provided the Rose’s work order and the police report from NOPD, but Kia says they’ll need access to the vehicle for a physical inspection before they can pinpoint what happened. A Kia representative said the company is trying to get in touch with the Roses for more information.
But for now, that inspection will have to wait as NOPD tries to trace the car to a string of crimes committed before the car was dumped.
Sgt. Rose said it’s been a frustrating time for his family.
“So, my question is my only one question for Kia Corporation. What are you doing? What are you doing to rectify this? Because we're buying your vehicles to live out our day-to-day and what are you doing to fix this?” he asked.
The Roses’ insurance company provided a rental car for Taylor while everything was processed, but he can’t drive it because he’s under 25 years old.
The Rose family is now dealing with insurance, and is on the hunt for another car with better security.
► Get breaking news from your neighborhood delivered directly to you by downloading the new FREE WWL-TV News app now in the IOS App Store or Google Play.