About 9 million Kia and Hyundai models are affected, the defect enabled criminals to steal certain cars and SUVs using a USB charging cord and I guess software on their phone?
Hyundai Models
2018-2022 Accent
2011-2022 Elantra
2013-2020 Elantra GT
2018-2022 Kona
2013-2022 Santa Fe
2013-2018 Santa Fe Sport
2019 Santa Fe XL
2011-2019 Sonata
2011-2022 Tucson
2012-2017, 2019-2021 Veloster
2020-2021 Venue
2013-2014 Genesis Coupe
2020-2021 Palisade
Kia Models
2011-2022 Kia Sportage
2011-2022 Kia Sorento
2021-2022 Kia K5
2011-2021 Kia Sedona
2014-2021 Kia Forte
2012-2021 Kia Rio
2021-2022 Kia Seltos
2011-2020 Kia Optima
2020-2022 Kia Soul
A family member received a security recall for thier 2013 Sonata last week.
My 2020 Kona has a keyless ignition so I believe is immune from this, but it does make me worry about my car getting broken into if I park it in Grand Rapids since those thefts have been pretty common here.
Yeah, my daughter has a 22 Kona with keyless ignition too. I worry about the same thing; in addition what impact this may have on our insurance rates even though we aren’t directly affected.
We are currently riding in 2018 model years Optima EX Tech and Sportage EX. We’ve had like 6 Kias prior, and our next car(s) will likely be Kias as well.
I’ve been confused about the Kia gang thefts being so rampant here. Do they regularly catch them and put them away for an extended period of time? It’s not like our city is that big to keep evading all the time.
Back a summer or two ago when this blew up they weren’t. It’s such a quick thing to steal them and then they’d generally just drive around for awhile and then abandon them.
I can’t put my hands on the article, but in the last few days I saw a local article which recounted the story of some teens/early 20-somethings who had been caught driving stolen Hyundais. They were dropped off for their court date by friends who were driving stolen Hyundais and who were arrested a few blocks from the courthouse.
It’s apparently like free Uber, with the small risk that you might go to jail.
Is this all because Hyundai and Kia did not equip their vehicles with immobilizers and just had old school dumb keys? I thought immobilizers had been standard for a long while now except for maybe the bare bones budget trim level of the cheapest car models that came with AM radio and no A/C.
Apparently, the kids in my area are going ham with this – just saw a local news story of kids robbing a local store by driving right through the glass storefront in a stolen Hyundai, then making their getaway in a different stolen Hyundai.
As the owner of both a 2020 AND 2012 Sorento (gave my old 2012 to my daughter) I am relieved to see they finally came out with software to prevent this. I got the recall notice for my 2020, still waiting on the 2012. Unfortunately there is no Kia dealership in the college town my daughter lives in, the nearest one is over an hour away, so I’ll prob just have her drive it home at some point and we’ll get it taken care of while she’s home with us.
I hope the software update comes with a big window sticker that says “Anti-theft software updated. Car thieves can fuck off!”
