About a year ago, someone figured out how to hotwire certain Kia and Hyundai vehicles with a screwdriver and a standard USB cable. That information spread to TikTok, where users created the so-called Kia Challenge. As a result, police have been dealing with a spike in stolen cars.
Attorneys general from 23 states, including New Jersey, are demanding the companies confront the issue. They wrote a letter to Kia and Hyundai last month criticizing the companies for avoiding a recall, stating, “Your companies made the choice not to include anti-theft immobilizers as standard equipment in many of your vehicle models sold in the United States … By 2015 they were standard on 96% of other manufacturers’ vehicles. And yet, in that same year, only 26% of Hyundai and Kia models came equipped with an immobilizer as standard equipment.”
Jim Appleton, of the New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers, said while the companies stopped short of a recall, they have offered free software fixes at dealerships for owners of the affected cars, which include several models made between 2015 and 2021.
Michael Barry, of the Insurance Information Institute, said some insurers have stopped offering new policies on these cars in certain states. “This is a highly unusual occurrence, and it’s really because the manufacturers of the Kia and Hyundai vehicles decided to cut corners and didn’t install these engine immobilizers, which would reduce the incidences of theft,” Barry said.
