A Viral And Dangerous Trend: The Kia TikTok Challenge

TikTok first gained immense, worldwide popularity largely because of the fun challenges and trends that dominated the social media platform.

Most of the challenges that go viral are harmless. A few are anything but. One particularly alarming example is the Kia Challenge that emerged on TikTok in October 2022 — and has been blamed for at least eight deaths.

The Kia TikTok Challenge: Background

Almost all cars sold in the 21st century have anti-theft devices called immobilizers. The equipment prevents anyone from starting a car unless they have a key or fob that transmits a dynamically-generated passcode to the immobilizer. Without that code, the starter system simply won’t work. In many models, any attempt to bypass the immobilizer triggers an alarm.

Immobilizers aren’t required by US law, though, and a few notable models were sold without them: 2015-2021 Hyundais and 2011-2021 Kias. The absence of immobilizers left those cars vulnerable to thieves, who just had to break a car window, open the steering column, and plug a simple USB cable into the ignition to start the vehicle.

Once the hack was discovered, thefts of Hyundais and Kias soared, increasing by more than 1,000% between 2020 and 2024.

The Kia TikTok Challenge: The Kia Boys

In the early 2020s, Milwaukee experienced a dramatic increase in both car thefts and reckless driving. Many of the incidents led to high-speed police chases — and most of the vehicles involved were Kias or Hyundais.

It wasn’t known at first who was responsible, but a video eventually surfaced showing one of the stolen vehicles hitting pedestrians outside a Milwaukee high school. Soon after that, a “documentary” was posted on YouTube showing members of a group calling themselves the Kia Boys (or Kia Boyz) using the method to steal a Hyundai Elantra.

The driver featured in the video was identified and arrested, but after his release, he was arrested the next year for the same crime. Meanwhile, other people were learning about the way that the lack of immobilizers could be exploited.

The Kia TikTok Challenge: Viral Videos and Fallout

In 2022, the first TikTok post demonstrating how to easily steal Kias and Hyundais was posted. It was taken down two weeks later, but the damage had been done. More and more TikTok users, apparently considering it a “challenge,” began uploading their own TikTok posts documenting their theft of cars without immobilizers, followed by joyrides and often crashes.

The app made a concerted effort to take down those videos as they were posted, but the damage was done. People (mostly teens) taking the “Kia Challenge” were responsible for deaths across America from New York to Washington State, as well as more than $100 million worth of damage.

As a result of the thefts, damage, and deaths, Hyundai released patches eliminating the vulnerability in affected models, both automakers were hit with a $200 million class action lawsuit, and TikTok says it remains committed to taking down Kia challenge videos immediately.

The story, however, remains a powerful reminder that social media isn’t always fun and entertaining. It can also trigger dangerous and destructive trends.