Gahanna police give away hundreds of steering wheel locks to Kia, Hyundai owners

Bethany Bruner, The Columbus Dispatch
·1 min read
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Gahanna police gave away steering wheel locks, like the one pictured above, to Kia and Hyundai owners to help prevent vehicle thefts.
Gahanna police gave away steering wheel locks, like the one pictured above, to Kia and Hyundai owners to help prevent vehicle thefts.

Demand for steering wheel locks for Kia and Hyundai owners is apparently so high, that Gahanna police gave away hundreds of them before they were even able to host an event on Saturday to hand them out.

Kia and Hyundai provided the steering wheel locks to Gahanna police as one of the measures the automakers are taking to prevent thefts of the cars. Over the last several years, the models of cars have been targeted by thieves because of the ease with which they can be stolen.

Gahanna police were given 400 wheel locks to give away, all of which have already been claimed by Kia and Hyundai owners. In light of that, the police department will no longer host an event Saturday at its station on Rocky Fork Boulevard to hand out the locks.

Gahanna police became the latest central Ohio law enforcement agency that gave away free steering wheel locks to Kia and Hyundai owners. Other police departments, such as Hilliard and Dublin, have done similar steering wheel lock giveaways in 2023.

The thefts of Kias and Hyundais have become so pervasive that the City of Columbus filed a federal lawsuit against the automakers, arguing the makers have been negligent in refusing to change design flaws that have led to the surge in thefts.

bbruner@dispatch.com

@bethany_bruner

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Gahanna police give out hundreds of wheel locks to Kia, Hyundai owners