Chicago is awash in murder and lesser crimes, but the culprits are not who you might think. Gangbanging teens short on parenting and long on societal ills? They are but the brush applying the paint – whose hand held it? Whose lungs breathed the air through the trumpet of violence? The Hyundai and Kia Motors companies. According to the City of Chicago, the car manufacturers caused vehicle thefts and should now pay the city millions in damages.
The city filed suit in Cook County court, alleging that because they didn’t include one particular anti-theft technology, the car companies are at fault for stolen vehicles. If gun makers are responsible for gun crimes, why not blame car companies for car thefts? Lord knows politicians are fatally allergic to accountability, and Chicago crime statistics call out for someone to blame. Apparently, there is a limit to what may be credibly laid at the feet of Mr. Trump, even to as progressive an audience as Windy City voters.
Chicago’s theory of the case is that it’s the car companies’ fault their vehicles were often the target of thieves. This is because they did not install engine immobilizers as an anti-theft measure – though adding the tech would have increased the manufacturing price. Should Kia have done so?
Imagine all the federal requirements and mandates a car manufacturer must follow to offer a vehicle for sale in the US. It’s daunting and likely impossible outside a committee of those with decades of experience. Yet, there was no standard for the immobilizers. Kia built and sold a car consistent with all requirements; how can it be at fault? Of course, the thieves are to blame for car thefts. In his 1993 essay “A Nation of Cowards,” Jeff Snyder wrote about a failed PSA from long ago:
“In the mid-sixties there was a public service advertising campaign targeted at car owners about the prevention of car theft. The purpose of the ad was to urge car owners not to leave their keys in their cars. The message was, ‘Don’t help a good boy go bad.’ The implication was that, by leaving his keys in his car, the normal, law-abiding car owner was contributing to the delinquency of minors who, if they just weren’t tempted beyond their limits, would be ‘good.’ Now, in those days people still had a fair sense of just who was responsible for whose behavior. The ad succeeded in enraging a goodly portion of the populace, and was soon dropped.”
Mayor Brandon Johnson (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Will Chicagoans of 2023 see through the snow job? If only Hyundai and Kia hadn’t led these Windy City youth astray, they might have a chance in this world! Chicago’s Democrat Mayor Brandon Johnson directed the suit. Is he liable for avoiding best practices? Is he holding himself and citizens accountable for their actions? Don’t be silly.
Kias were especially vulnerable to theft due to some viral social media posts demonstrating how to steal them effectively. City leaders turned the car manufacturer from a victim to a perpetrator – a nice trick for those who could otherwise be blamed for aiding and breathing life into a system where theft is rampant. That’s to say nothing of the value of human life in Chicago, but the city’s homicide problem is probably the fault of gun manufacturers or Elon Musk. It’s not the government’s fault, though. Accountability is for someone else, perpetually.
