— A stolen Kia lawsuit alleges design flaws in a 2018 Kia Optima caused the death of 36-year-old Matthew P. Moshi in Ohio on November 25, 2023.
The stolen Kia Optima crashed into a 2009 Honda Civic driven by Matthew Moshi.
Now the stolen Kia has caused a lawsuit filed by the family of the deceased Civic driver.
The 2018 Kia Optima was stolen in Columbus, Ohio, and was driven by a 15-year-old male who drove the Kia at high speed through a stop sign at the intersection of Beacon Hill Road and Hilliard Rome Road.
The stolen Kia held four teens who were running from the police when the Kia Optima slammed into the Honda Civic.
Though Mr. Moshi was killed in the Honda, the four teens in the stolen Kia were not seriously injured.
In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs assert the stolen Kia had a "theft prone defect" that allowed the teens to steal the Kia and kill Mr. Moshi.
Kia allegedly built and sold millions of vehicles with "design flaws" that allowed teenage criminals to break a window, destroy the steering column, remove the ignition lock and start the vehicle with a standard USB cable.
According to the stolen Kia lawsuit, the 2018 Kia Optima had multiple design defects.
- Steering columns that do not contain adequately secure collars or casings, allowing easy access to the ignition assembly.
- Ignition lock cylinders that do not have a locking mechanism and can therefore be easily removed with minimal force, and leaves the ignition switch intact.
- The exposed ignition switch can be started with any set of pliers or a USB connector.
- The vehicles do not contain engine immobilizers, an anti-theft device that can prevent vehicles from starting unless a verified code is received by a transponder module that controls the engine and prevents the engine from being “hotwired” or started by any means other than an authorized key.
Though the stolen Kia lawsuit alleges the vehicle had design flaws, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigated Hyundai and Kia vehicles and determined there is nothing wrong with the vehicles regarding a lack of engine immobilizers.
In response to about 20 state attorneys general who asked the government to agree Hyundai and Kia should recall the vehicles, NHTSA said engine immobilizers are not required in the U.S.
The vehicles met or exceeded federal safety standards when they were first sold, and NHTSA determined, "the safety risk arises from unsafe use of a motor vehicle by an unauthorized person after taking significant destructive actions to parts of the vehicle."
Safety regulators also said there are no safety standards that, "contemplate actions taken by criminal actors to break open or remove part of the steering column and take out the ignition lock to start a vehicle."
This is far from the first lawsuit to be filed against Hyundai or Kia regarding incidents that occurred due to stolen vehicles.
In a stolen Hyundai lawsuit, the Elantra vehicle owner blames Hyundai because criminals stealing her vehicle shot her in the chest.
And in a different stolen Kia lawsuit, the parents of the teens who stole the vehicle blame Kia for the deaths of the teens.
The stolen Kia lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio (Eastern Division): Estate of Matthew P. Moshi v. Kia America, Inc.
The plaintiff is represented by Scott W. Schiff & Associates Co., LPA.