ONLY ON 13: Woman's Kia reportedly stolen from driveway, totaled within an hour

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A Heights-area woman is warning Kia and Hyundai owners after she said her Kia Soul was stolen from her driveway on Jan. 2.

The woman, who asked not to be identified, said she'd had the car for nine years.

"It was a gift, and I had it for so long," she said. "A lot of memories in that car, good and bad."

Surveillance footage shows an SUV with at least three people inside pull up to her driveway around 3:30 a.m.

They smashed a window, and, because of a security defect in 2011-2021 Kias and 2015-2021 Hyundais, were able to start the car without a key and drive away.

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Police say they found the car abandoned about an hour later in the Fifth Ward. It had hit a curb and flipped over.

"It looked like they rolled over or something. I mean, it looked like it was in a really bad accident," said the car owner, who says her vehicle's totaled.

ABC13's Neighborhood Safety Tracker shows auto thefts over the last year are up 30% of the previous three-year average.

Police say five of the top 10 most stolen vehicles for the last seven months have been Kias or Hyundais.

"The Kias and Hyundais are being stolen mostly just for joyriding, you know, as transportation. Point A and Point B and then dumping it, so we are finding nine out of 10 of them," Sgt. Tracy Hicks with the Houston Police Department's Auto Theft Division said.

Police recommend Kia and Hyundai owners install steering wheel locks, consider adding tracking devices to their vehicles, and check to see if the vehicle is equipped with an alarm. HPD said the vast majority of vehicles don't come with alarms installed.

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