An anonymous reader cited a report from Motherboard: Cities across the country are sued Kia and Hyundai for failing to install basic anti-theft technology, with a subsequent massive spike in stolen cars straining police departments, according to lawsuits filed in recent months. Since the beginning of the year, Seattle, Baltimore, Cleveland, new York, Chicago, St. Lewisand Columbus all sued Kia and Hyundai, which are owned by the same parent company, for selling cars without engine immobilizers, a technology that has served as a major contributor to sharp decline in stolen cars in the U.S. As the rest of the industry has adopted immobilizers, Kia and Hyundai have not, with only 26 percent of their cars including them in 2015, compared to 96 percent for other manufacturers.
Without immobilizers, cars are trivially easy to steal, requiring only a USB cable. A viral trend on Youtube and Tiktok instructed people how to steal the cars. Kia and Hyundai vehicles manufactured without immobilizers between 2015 and 2020, especially lower-end models such as the Accent, Rio and Sportage, are particularly vulnerable. A lawsuit filed by dozens of insurance companies against Kia and Hyundai claims the lack of immobilizers violates federal regulations. The increase in Kia and Hyundai thefts in cities across the country is staggering and shows no signs of abating. In a lawsuit filed last week, the city of Chicago said that in 2022, more than 8,800 Kia and Hyundai vehicles were stolen in the city, representing 41 percent of all car thefts in Chicago, even though Kia and Hyundai made up just seven percent from vehicles in the city. In a press release announcing the lawsuit, the city said it gets even worse in 2023, with Kias and Hyundais making up more than half of all stolen cars in the city that year. Chicago is hardly alone. […]
In statements to Motherboard, Kia spokesman James Bell said the lawsuits filed by cities against the company are “without merit” and that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has determined it does not violate any regulations or safety standards. In June, NHTSA’s Acting Associate Director of Enforcement Cem Hatipoglu responded to 18 state prosecutors who requested a recall of the cars, saying, “At this time, NHTSA has not determined that this problem constitutes either a safety defect or a noncompliance requiring a recall .” An NHTSA spokesman told Motherboard that the agency has met with Kia and Hyundai on the issue, but did not say whether it agreed with Kia’s interpretation. Hyundai spokesman Ira Gabriel similarly said all of its vehicles are “fully compliant with federal anti-theft requirements”. Hyundai and Kia owners can obtain steering wheel locks from local police departments or through dedicated websites. Both companies also offer a free software patch that they say eliminates the threat of theft requiring a dealer visit Bell of Kia says the company has distributed more than 190,000 wheel locks and that 650,000 vehicles have received the software update, out of a total of three million. Both companies now include immobilizers in all their new cars.
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