Kia and Hyundai’s antitheft software update seems to be working

The Kia Boys whitethorn person met their match.

A package update that first rolled retired past twelvemonth to owners of Hyundai and Kia vehicles without physics immobilizers has trim theft rates by much than half, according to a caller study from nan Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI).

The automakers first began implementing nan update successful February 2023 successful consequence to a activity of car thefts that started during nan covid pandemic, erstwhile instructional videos connected really to bargain nan cars first started going viral connected TikTok and different societal media platforms.

Thieves calling themselves “the Kia Boys” would station instructional videos astir really to bypass nan vehicles’ information strategy utilizing devices arsenic elemental arsenic a USB cable. About 9 cardinal vehicles person been impacted, including Hyundai Elantras and Sonatas, arsenic good arsenic Kia Fortes and Souls. The automakers agreed to a $200 cardinal settlement pinch owners past year.

The thefts are reportedly easy to propulsion disconnected because galore Hyundai and Kia vehicles manufactured betwixt 2015 and 2019 deficiency physics immobilizers that forestall would-be thieves from simply breaking successful and bypassing nan ignition. The characteristic is standard instrumentality connected astir each vehicles from nan aforesaid play made by different manufacturers.

According to nan HLDI’s database, an estimated 30 percent of nan eligible Hyundais and 28 percent of nan eligible Kias person received nan package update. But nan institute’s study ends successful December 2023; nan automakers declare that astir 60 percent of eligible vehicles person been updated since then.

The update aimed to forestall thefts by extending nan magnitude of nan siren sound from 30 seconds to 1 infinitesimal and requiring a cardinal successful nan ignition move to move nan conveyance connected — essentially acting arsenic a software-based immobilizer. 

And truthful far, it seems to beryllium having immoderate success. HLDI says that theft declare frequencies were 53 percent little for vehicles pinch nan upgrade than for those that didn’t get it. The wave of full conveyance theft saw an moreover much melodramatic driblet aft nan upgrade astatine 64 percent.

But theft rates for Hyundai and Kia vehicles stay “elevated” arsenic compared to different brands, nan institute says — even for models pinch nan update. Theft declare wave for Hyundai and Kia models successful nan 2nd half of 2023 “was much than 11 times arsenic precocious arsenic successful nan first half of 2020 and much than 8 times arsenic precocious arsenic nan July-December 2023 theft declare wave for different brands,” nan group says.

One imaginable logic cited by HLDI is that nan software-based immobilizer only activates if nan driver remembers to fastener nan conveyance pinch a cardinal fob, while galore group are successful nan wont of utilizing nan move connected nan doorway handle.

Vandalism claims besides stay elevated for Hyundai and Kia owners, arsenic would-be thieves are breaking into nan vehicles and stealing items and damaging nan interior aft uncovering themselves thwarted by nan package update.