While a proposed crackdown on rampant auto theft appears to have stalled in Colorado’s Legislature – our state’s attorney general has decided to go after automakers instead. If it’s too much trouble to catch the culprit, blame the victim.

On Friday, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser announced he is joining 17 attorneys general from his party in other states in requesting a federal recall of Hyundai and Kia automobiles.

Weiser isn’t alleging the popular brands have faulty air bags or brakes or emissions systems. Rather, a news release from his office cites, “the companies’ continued failure to take adequate steps to address the alarming rate of theft of their vehicles.”

In a letter sent last Thursday to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Weiser and his counterparts ask the agency to issue a recall of Hyundais and Kias made between 2011 and 2022 due to easily bypassed ignition switches and a lack of engine immobilizers. That makes them vulnerable to theft, the letter contends.

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We’re familiar with the TikTok “challenge” videos that went viral, offering a how-to on stealing the brands and egging on budding car thieves to give it a try. It’s galling, of course.

But we’ll have to defer to the technical experts as to whether the two oft-stolen brands actually are easier to start than others – or just more in demand, regrettably, thanks to TikTok.

It also seems like a rather debatable legal strategy – to seek the recall of an otherwise functional and safe vehicle because it’s deemed easy to steal. But Weiser’s the lawyer, not us.

What seems a certainty, though, is that Weiser’s gambit will have virtually no impact on Colorado’s dubious status as the No. 1 state for auto theft. Even a recall, if the feds agree to one, would do little to change that.

A surer bet would be for Weiser to use his political capital and bully pulpit to call on his fellow Democrats in control of the state House of Representatives to pass Senate Bill 23-097. For some reason, the bill has been going nowhere fast, idling for weeks without even a committee hearing. It passed the Senate amid fanfare and much media coverage.

SB 23-097 would repair a glaring defect in Colorado law. Auto theft penalties are based on the vehicle’s value, which makes no sense. A vehicle worth only a few thousand dollars is at least as essential to its owner – probably someone of modest means – as a vehicle worth much more is to its owner.

The Legislature made matters even worse in 2021 by adopting a sweeping law watering down a range of criminal penalties – incredibly, making the theft of a vehicle valued under $2,000 a mere misdemeanor. It was implemented as part of the reckless, criminal-coddling “justice reform” agenda advanced by lawmakers from the ruling Democrats’ political fringe.

The bipartisan SB 23-097 would eliminate the state criminal code’s sliding scale tying the value of a vehicle to the penalty. All vehicle thefts would be a felony. It’s a fix that’s overdue.

The bill emerged from the Senate with broad backing, including from law enforcement and Colorado’s local governments. Presumably, Gov. Jared Polis would sign it, having called on the Legislature in his State of the State speech in January to “get tough on auto-theft sentencing.”

Hyundai and Kia might make fetching scapegoats. But if Weiser really wants to put a dent in auto theft, the next news release issued by his office ought to quote him demanding that House Democrats approve SB 23-097.

Denver Gazette Editorial Board