Kias and Hyundais Keep Getting Stolen by the Thousands and Cities Are Suing | A viral Tiktok trend that began in 2021 demonstrated how the companies failed to install a basic anti-theft technology …::A viral Tiktok trend that began in 2021 demonstrated how the companies failed to install a basic anti-theft technology that made them trivially easy to steal.
It’s worth mentioning that this impacts only US vehicles from those brands.
And only the key operated ones. Push to start are not affected.
“Push to start” may stop someone driving off in the car, but they are still targets.
Thieves smash the windows, hop in, see the lack of key startup, then hop out. You still will end making a call to the police or insurance company.
Having “Hyundai” or “Kia” anywhere on the car makes them a target of thieves, even with push to start.
Nah, the proximity key cars have buttons on the door handle. It’s a dead giveaway sign that it’s pushbutton inside. Most thieves know this/figure it out real quick so they don’t waste their time/risk getting caught.
More needs to be said. Insurance companies have raised the rates of basic, liability only, for a salvage title car, by more than 70% increase in the last 3 years. $440/6mo > $770/6mo.
This is an attack on all motorists in a way I’ve never seen. Financially attacking everyone for two car models that have been designed to be targets of “model”, and to allow children to make a mess of their futures.
What leverage can we possibly have against this exploitation?
I hope it’s the result of not using the metric system.
No, but it is the result of deregulation. Similar models sold in Canada don’t have this issue because (drumroll please), federal regulations require immobilizers on new cars. Free market at work folks.
Are you sure? This stuff is happening in Australia too. Something about the key hole size being the exact size as a USB-A cable.
That’s only a small part of it. The bigger issue was that Hyundai/Kia removed like a 10 cent chip that would have prevented this issue on the US and a few other markets to save money.
Still, everyone puts the blame on Hyundai, and while they definitely deserve some blame in all this, let’s not forget the fact that people are still actively stealing these cars. These are still scumbag criminals doing this. An average person could see a car with its doors unlocked and the engine running and they won’t hop in and steal it, because they’re not asswipes.
Here it says that this should not be possible in Australia due to the immobilizers.
https://www.drive.com.au/news/us-kia-and-hyundai-thefts-what-it-means-for-australia/
Maybe some thieves believe all KIAs and Hyundays are targets and eventually some are stolen due to other factors.