Kia, Hyundai Seek Dismissal of Newark, N.J.’s, SAC in Vehicle Theft MDL

LOS ANGELES — Hyundai Motor America and Kia America have moved to dismiss an amended complaint in which the City of Newark, N.J., accuses them of failing to equip their vehicles with anti-theft technology, arguing that the fraud-based claims sound in product liability and are therefore subsumed by the New Jersey Product Liability Act.

In a Nov. 1 motion filed before Judge James V. Selna of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, defendants argue that the second amended complaint “focuses on alleged flaws in the design and manufacture of the theft-prevention systems at issue — not …