- A fault with some Kia and Hyundai keys is making the vehicles targets for thieves across the US.
- According to the police, social media challenges on Tik Tok and YouTube motivate criminals to steal the vehicles.
- Steering-wheel locks are one remedy that both Kia and Hyundai are offering in response to the issue.
The reason why Kia and Hyundai cars are being targeted by thieves across the nation, according to law enforcement, is that social media challenges are drawing attention to a flaw in the vehicles.
Some Hyundai cars produced between 2016 and 2021 and some Kia models produced between 2011 and 2021 have a critical flaw that makes them simple targets for theft.
These models, according to The Wall Street Journal, are simpler to steal since they utilize conventional keys and lack a chip that would prohibit them from starting without a key.
The Cook County Sheriff’s Office issued a news statement alerting the public about the increase in thefts. The sheriff’s office has received 642 reports of thefts of Kia and Hyundai since July 1, compared to 74 the previous year.
According to the press release, “the increases are thought to be related to the dissemination of videos on social media that illustrate how to start these automobiles without a key.” “Theft appears to be focusing on unoccupied automobiles that need a physical key, not a starter button,” said the police.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch revealed that a trend on Tik Tok and YouTube is instructing individuals how to break into these cars using a screwdriver and a USB charging cord.
The Milwaukee-based “Kia Boyz” group that created the popular videos. Police Chief Jeffrey Norman of the city told the Journal that he first saw the pattern there in 2020, during the pandemic-related closures.
In response, law enforcement increased its visibility, issued warnings, and distributed tools to help secure the cars from theft. Law enforcement authorities are dispensing stickers for vehicles in Cook County, Illinois, and Milwaukee that will enable investigators to follow and halt the vehicles.
The thefts of Kia and Hyundai vehicles in Milwaukee decreased by 22% and 36%, respectively, through the end of August, according to police data obtained by the Wall Street Journal. The publication noted that thefts were 183% greater in the first eight months of 2021 than they were a year earlier.
According to the Post-Dispatch, the St. Louis Police Department received 393 reports of theft and attempted theft for Hyundai vehicles in August and 269 for Kia vehicles. Dan Isom, interim director of public safety, further stated that Hyundai and Kia vehicles accounted for nearly 77% of all the vehicles stolen in that month.
In a letter, city counselor Sheena Hamilton accused the two automakers of putting the city in danger and warned to sue them if they did not do something to address the issue.
Hamilton said in the letter that “Kia and Hyundai’s defective automobiles have generated a public safety catastrophe in the city, endangering the health, safety, and tranquility of all those who live, work, or visit the city.” Your businesses are accountable for reducing the public nuisance your carelessness has caused for the city and its citizens.
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Following an increase in thefts fueled by social media challenges, new lawsuits claim that Hyundai and Kia vehicles are too simple to steal.
Typically, the person who steals the car receives the majority of the blame for the actual crime. That is no longer the case for Hyundai and Kia, however, as state officials, clients, and attorneys are urging the business associates to take action.
The action comes after a spate of vehicle thefts involving each brand that were sparked by widely popular social media challenges on TikTok, YouTube, and other platforms. These challenges typically used the hashtag “Kia Boys.” Usually, the vehicles are employed for fast thrill rides or other criminal activities. The tendency is growing throughout the United States, despite the claims made by social media firms that they remove such content because it violates their regulations.
The majority of the cars being targeted are specific 2010–2021 Kia and Hyundai models with traditional mechanical keys and no key-fob or push-start system. All vehicles produced after 2022, according to the two Korean businesses, are equipped with the technology.
The automakers are currently dealing with multiple class-action lawsuits in various states.
In December of last year, there was the first indication that there might be an issue for Hyundai and Kia. At that time, we announced that both manufacturers had started collaborating with Milwaukee police to offer free steering wheel locks to deter theft of automobiles without immobilizers.
Then, in July, we informed you that the Minnesota Police Department had noted an increase in Kia thefts of more than 1,300% from the previous year. At same time, thefts of Kia and Hyundai vehicles were also reported to have increased in Grand Rapids, St. Louis, Memphis, Cincinnati, and Columbus. Milwaukee even went so far as to claim that the rise in thefts was “directly caused” by the Korean automakers.
By August, St. Petersburg, Florida police had also noted a rise and had even gone so far as to tweet about the problem. The Wall Street Journal is now reporting that the rash of thefts has sparked a number of lawsuits that claim these cars are just too simple to steal. Hyundai, for its part, claims that beginning in October, a security upgrade will be available for purchase at its dealers.
At least one federal action has been filed against the Korean automakers, and Ken McClain, the lead attorney on 13 claims against Kia and Hyundai, told CBS Chicago that “Kia and Hyundai have known for a long time that their refusal to add an immobilizer put their automobiles at a disadvantage.”
While no automobile can be rendered theft-proof, according to a statement from Kia to the WSJ, thieves are only interested in cars with a steel key and a “turn-to-start” ignition system.
The statement continued, “The majority of Kia vehicles sold in the United States come with a key fob and ‘push-button-to-start’ system, making them harder to steal.
The two Korean manufacturers told CNBC that they are distributing steering wheel locks in an effort to remedy the issue; Hyundai added that it will start selling a “security kit” in October.
Added Videos
Saint Louis Donald Nelson left his Shrewsbury house at around five in the morning one morning in June, only to discover that he was the most recent casualty of a widespread pattern. Vehicle thieves are taking advantage of a flaw in the ignition systems of some well-known car brands.
With little more than a USB cord, it enables thieves to steal thousands of Kias and Hyundais, much like Nelson’s.
Nelson recounted, “When I got out, I believed I was in the Twilight Zone.” “Maybe I parked my automobile in a different spot?” I pondered.
The final few seconds of his 2020 Hyundai Elantra driving away without Nelson in the driver’s seat were captured by his cameras.
“I started wondering right away, “What am I going to do? How will I travel to work? What should I do next? How will my insurance be affected? “asked he.
Kia automobiles from 2015 and Hyundai models from 2012, according to police across the nation, are at risk.
According to St. Louis Police Capt. Janice Bockstruck, thefts of those kinds of cars have increased by almost 400% in St. Louis compared to this time last year.
Bockstruck said that if Hyundais and Kias were excluded from the equation, the city’s overall car theft rate would decrease by 6% rather than increase.
The fact that Kias and Hyundais are more prevalent in our city than other makes and models of cars “speaks volumes in and of itself,” she said.
Using Just a USB Cable, Thieves Are Stealing Hyundais and Kias
Thanks in part to popular social media posts, thieves all around the United States are targeting Hyundai and Kia cars because they are simple targets. Basically, they can start the car and go in less than a minute if it’s a modern car from one of those automakers that doesn’t use push-button start. The only equipment needed is a USB charger, which can be found in almost all cars.
Over the past year, more thefts of both brands have been reported in a number of states. This is consistent with the rise in viewers and sharers of films of the Milwaukee-based “Kia Boyz” speeding around in snatched Korean vehicles.
Videos demonstrate the exact procedure they’re using, which entails removing the steering column cover and disassembling the key hole. The vehicle can then be started, the steering lock released, and the ignition tumbler turned using a USB cord. As a result, the Hyundai or Kia can be started and driven away at any time by utilizing the same cable. The thieves target Korean vehicles with physical key slots in particular because push-button start variants are more difficult to circumvent.
According to reports, vehicles that employ a physical key are vulnerable to this technique because they lack an immobilizer, a factory-installed anti-theft mechanism. These immobilizers check the authenticity of a key against an automobile’s ECU using a chip, or transponder. This implies that the vehicle cannot be started unless the transponder has been matched with the vehicle, even if a thief has copied the physical cuts on a key. The vulnerable Hyundai and Kia vehicles purportedly lack an immobilizer, allowing the thieves to accomplish the same feat on an automobile from the 1980s by simply forcing the ignition cylinder.
Hyundai and Kia representatives claim that the 2022 vehicles are exempt from the technique. Despite this, numerous news organizations have continued to record automobile thefts. When there are no stylistic changes, it’s unlikely that a would-be thief would be able to distinguish a 2022 from a 2021, therefore owners may still be targeted and vandalized even if thieves are unable to drive away.
Milwaukee is probably one of the worst cities in terms of thefts, even though it is not the only one. In fact, more than two-thirds of all vehicle thefts in the city involve Korean cars, and they’ve grown by 2,500 percent annually. Since the situation has “a significant harmful impact on the quality of life for [its] inhabitants,” city alderman Michael Murphy told WISN, Milwaukee has even considering legal action against Hyundai and Kia. A different class action case was filed last June under seal against the automakers and their parent firm, alleging that inadequate security measures are used in the production of the automobiles.
A higher level of security may be something affected Hyundai and Kia owners want to think about adding. For instance, they might decide to buy a wheel lock shaped like a club or an aftermarket immobilizer system. Even if it doesn’t necessarily address the root cause, this does contribute by thwarting potential crimes of opportunity.
Too simple to steal Kia and Hyundai vehicles? Columbus citizens file a federal court lawsuit against automakers.
Drivers are being warned about a rise in KIA and Hyundai vehicle thefts, which are a part of a social media trend known as keyless auto thefts, by police and sheriff’s agencies across the nation and in Florida.
Three Columbus homeowners have filed a federal class action lawsuit against the automakers amid a wave of thefts of Kia and Hyundai vehicles both locally and nationally.
Erin Davies, Taylor Slovak, and her husband, Daniel Newman, allege that Kia America and Hyundai Motor America sell faulty cars that are simpler to steal.
In the case, which was filed on Thursday in Toledo’s U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, the automakers are compelled to repair or replace the problematic vehicles, which are all Kia models produced between 2011 and 2021 and all Hyundai models produced between 2015 and 2021.
Customers of Hyundai are required to pay $170 for a kit to secure its easily stolen vehicles.
TikTok made the method for breaking into Hyundai and Kia vehicles famous, and now the automaker provides assistance, but it costs the owners money.
- Due to well-liked social media videos demonstrating how simple it is to takeover specific models that employ a traditional key and lack an engine immobilizer, hundreds of Hyundai and Kia automobiles have been stolen this year.
- Starting today, the new security kit will cost $170. Hyundai owners are anticipated to be required to pay for installation as well, which might cost up to $500. Kia provides free steering wheel locks but does not offer a similar security kit.
- The topic, which began to gain prominence in Milwaukee late last year, has given rise to numerous class action lawsuits.
For those who haven’t had their car stolen, Hyundai has created a $170 solution. Because it’s so simple to steal a car, and criminals are distributing how-to videos on social media, Hyundai and Kia vehicles have become targets in recent months. According to local television station WTMJ, the spate of thefts is so bad that six Hyundai automobiles are often stolen simply in Milwaukee each day.
Hyundai has finally developed a remedy as a result of how terrible the theft epidemic has gotten across the country. Hyundai has now released a brand-new anti-theft security kit that was jointly created with Compustar. A kill switch and an alarm are also included in the kit. According to Hyundai, the kit will be accessible at each of its 820 U.S. dealers and will require about two and a half hours to install. Hyundai is also developing a software patch to address this problem.