Nearly three months ago, Hyundai and Kia unveiled software that was designed to thwart an epidemic of thefts of their vehicles, caused by a security flaw that was exposed on TikTok and other social media sites.
So far, it hasn’t solved the problem. Across the country, thieves are still driving off with the vehicles at an alarming rate.
“The scope of the problem is only expanding and is exponentially worse than it has been in the past,” Brian O’Hara, the police chief of Minneapolis, said in an email. “We have some weeks where nearly as many Kias and Hyundais are stolen in a week as had previously been stolen in a year.” The disturbing theft rate, which authorities nationally have linked to other crimes including at least, has persisted despite the automakers' unveiling of their anti-theft software campaign in mid-February.
“The process occurred at an accelerated pace and allowed us to begin rolling out the enhanced security software earlier this year in phases,” the company said. Though most automakers have had the chips for years, Hyundai and Kia have lagged behind the industry as a whole in installing them on many models, thereby allowing thieves to exploit the security gap. In the 2015 model year, immobilizers were standard on 96% of other manufacturers’ models but on only 26% of Hyundai and Kia models, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said.
Even with a recall, not everyone takes an affected car to a dealer to be fixed. Recall completion rates, Brooks said, average only around 60% of owners.
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