Posted on 03/21/2023 7:12:07 AM PDT by ChicagoConservative27
A group of 23 state attorneys general are demanding that Hyundai and Kia take further action to prevent an ongoing surge of thefts, after a recent social media trend highlighted the vehicles’ lack of a particular anti-theft device.
Hyundai and Kia opted not to equip their cars with engine immobilizers until late 2021, an anti-theft device that the attorneys general argued became an industry standard several years earlier.
The automakers announced last month that they were rolling out a software update to their vehicles that would extend the alarm sound and require the key be in the ignition to start.
However, the state attorneys general noted in a letter to the carmakers on Monday that the companies’ software update will not be available to most affected vehicles until June and cannot be installed on some models for technical reasons.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a41477937/hyundai-security-kit-easy-to-steal-models/
Confirmed by car & driver that only the ones that require a key in the ignition to start are impacted.
In Memphis they figured out its easier to just steal a tow truck. That way they snatch 4 cars an hour. They are chopped up and gone in a day. The “chop shops” have been decentralized and it is now done in the back yards of residential homes.
Lol!
Breathing is responsible for Covid.
Why should the cars be on the hook for criminal behavior? This twisted logic is how people are suing firearms companies. It is wrong. The real problem here is that people are stealing cars, the police are powerless or too lazy to stop them. Make the consequences of auto theft real and immediate, then thefts would fall. As well, arm the citizenry to defend their property but leave the car manufacturers alone as even the best locks won’t stop a thief.
My coworker had her 2019 Hyundai stolen because of this very issue. It’s a problem because regardless of if this vulnerability exists or not in your car these cars are now targets on the street. I would be pissed if I had one of these vehicles.
As of 2022, Hyundai and Kia had stepped up and added an ignition interlock on all new vehicles (supposedly). But that doesn't do diddly squat for the ones that currently have the issue. I've watched the videos of the people stealing these affected cars. It takes them less than 20 seconds to break in and drive off.
So do you leave your car door unlocked and the keys in the ignition because people shouldn’t be stealing cars?
This is an OEM vulnerability and they should be responsible for it.
Most Hyundai/Kia cars during the affected period did not come with push-button star with the immobilizer function. The non-push-button start versions are the impacted vehicles here. Not yours. They specifically state the push-button start cars are not impacted.
My 2019 Kia is push button.
When this affects the sales numbers of new KIAs and Hyundia’s then they will change.
I personally would be reluctant to purchase one of these vehicles because of this issue.
The other day on the next door app a woman posted her kia had been stolen and that the police found it the next day in the middle of a road crashed head on into another one that had been stolen.
That’s just plain mean. 😏
Yeah. That's what the Kia Boyz were doing. Just mayhem. Nothing more. Stealing a bunch and crashing them for fun. Not even for parts.
Lock up car thieves, with exponentially increasing sentences for repeat offenders.
They aren’t stealing the car for resale or parts, but to briefly joy ride and trash them. Thieves, in many cases teens, pick them because they take no skill or threat to rob. They drive around and leave them destroyed.
I have an idea, how about you keep law breakers in jail instead of releasing them?
i saw a few video highlighting the “Kia Boyz”.
I could literally steal one of these cars in less then a minute.
If i had a flat head screwdriver with me 30 seconds..
Yea the “Kia Boyz” are typically under 18.
They brag that if in chance they get caught maybe a week in juvie.
Their worst fear is a possible whooping by grandma..
I used to have a really nice Toyota Supra that wherever i parked it i would quickly remove the ignition fuse from under the hood.
The owners of these cars should think the same....or maybe a secret kill switch somewhere..
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