Hyundai, Kia pushing updates so you can’t just steal their cars with USB cables

After months of thefts that have led to at least eight deaths, car makers Hyundai and Kia are offering free software updates to roughly 8.3 million cars that can be stolen with the aid of a USB-A cable.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Tuesday that the manufacturers’ updates make it so affected cars require a key to be in the ignition switch to start. The cars’ no-key alarms will also sound for one minute instead of 30 seconds. The updates should start arriving later this month, with phased rollouts over subsequent months for 3.8 million Hyundais and 4.5 million Kias.

According to news reports and at least one class-action lawsuit, the most-affected vehicles are Kias made between 2010 and 2021 and Hyundais produced between 2015 and 2021. Thieves typically break a back window to avoid alarms, expose the steering column, and fit a USB-A cable into a matching plug. Turning the plug with an inserted cable starts the car because the cars lack an engine immobilizer that prevents the engine from starting without a paired key.

By 2015, engine immobilizers were standard on 96 percent of most manufacturers’ vehicles, according to a September 2022 report by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, but they were only installed on 26 percent of Hyundais and Kias. The 2022 models produced by both companies now have engine immobilizers. The theft rate for cars without immobilizers was 2.18 per year per 1,000 insured vehicles, versus 1.21 for the industry average for 2015–2019.

The relative ease of theft might have gone unnoticed if not for the “Kia Challenge,” a 2022 TikTok trend showing the methods and celebrating thefts and joyrides. The NHTSA attributes 14 reported crashes and eight deaths to the viral challenge. While there are no nationwide numbers for thefts and related crimes, they’re notable.

In Buffalo, New York, where a Kia joyride last fall killed four teenagers, Kia thefts went from 55 in 2020 to 275 in 2022, and there were 141 Hyundai thefts, according to the Buffalo News. In Washington, DC, 31 percent of all 393 vehicle thefts in a roughly three-week period in January involved Kias and Hyundais, city police told DC News Now. Insurance firms, including State Farm and Progressive, have stopped accepting new insurance policies for many of the affected Hyundai and Kia models.

One Ars staffer had his own Hyundai stolen (pictured at top) as part of the wave of thefts. It took roughly two months for the car to be returned, as replacement ignition parts were backordered at local repair shops. An insurance adjuster told the staffer that one customer had a car stolen three times in succession because the car was only restored to its pre-theft condition after each theft.

Both automakers have offered free steering wheel locks to affected customers, sometimes working with local law enforcement agencies. Hyundai also noted in NHTSA’s statement that it will issue stickers to car owners that will prominently display the car’s updated status. The software updates will require visiting a dealer for installation; Hyundai reports the installation takes about an hour. Information on the updates is available by calling Hyundai at 800-633-5151 or Kia at 800-333-4542.