Time For A “Protection of Lawful Commerce in Automobiles Act”?

After partially defunding their police, Saint Louis has hit upon the real reason car thefts are up. And it has nothing to do with decades of — mostly — Dimwitocrat corruption.

When it isn’t the guns, it’s the cars.

ST. LOUIS CRIME: City Officials to Sue Car Manufacturers Because Criminals Are Stealing Cars
Car thefts have skyrocketed in St. Louis in recent months, with city leadership threatening lawsuits against Kia and Hyundai for an alleged defect that makes certain makes of the cars easier to steal.
[…]
In August, St. Louis leaders threatened to sue Hyundai and Kia, demanding the car companies address a defect that allegedly makes stealing vehicles made before 2021 easier to steal. KMOV reported last week that plans to sue the carmakers over the city’s spike in auto thefts are still in the works.

The issue, of course, isn’t really a “defect.” It’s a lack of an optional system that I’ve never had installed in a single vehicle I’ve owned in my life.

Hyundai and Kia chose to manufacture and sell the affected vehicles without an immobilizer, a device which prevents most vehicles from being started unless a code is transmitted from the vehicle’s smart key. Viral videos on TikTok and YouTube give step-by-step instructions on how to steal the affected vehicles without a key, and reports of stolen Kia and Hyundai vehicles have skyrocketed across the country.

Yes, Saint Louis is demanding that auto manufacturers only produce “smart” guns cars capable of recognizing authorized users, and disabling the vehicle for anyone else. Sounds vaguely familiar.

Not to give them ideas, but wouldn’t be easier to ban automatic transmissions, since a great many wanna-be “gone in 60 seconds” emulators can’t drive a stick? After all, who really needs a fully automatic car built just to go as dangerously fast as possible anyway?

Welcome to the party, pals.

 

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