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.

Hyundai and Kia are offering a free anti-theft update after a TikTok challenge went viral last summer. The challenge directed viewers on how to break into Hyundai and Kia vehicles using tools as simple as a USB cable.

In the aftermath of the ‘Kia Challenge,’ teens were directed on how to bypass a car’s security system by a group who call themselves the Kia Boyz. The challenge has resulted in at least 14 car crashes and eight fatalities, according to a report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

The car companies are now providing a free upgrade to Kia and Hyundai vehicle owners to add a theft deterrent software to extend the car’s alarm from 30 seconds to one minute and will require the driver to insert the key into the ignition to power up the engine. Each update will be accompanied by a window sticker that indicates the car is equipped with an anti-theft security system.

Randy Parker, CEO of Hyundai Motor America, said in a press release, “Hyundai is committed to ensuring the quality and integrity of our products through continuous improvement and is pleased to provide affected customers with an additional theft deterrent through this software upgrade.” He added, “We have prioritized the upgrade’s availability for owners and lessees of our highest-selling vehicles and those most targeted by thieves in order for dealers to service them first.” 

Vehicle owners previously had to pay a minimum of $170 for a new security system upgrade, but the cost could amount to far more than that with installation and labor driving the price to upwards of $500. According to the NHTSA, 3.8 million Hyundai and 4.5 million Kia vehicles will be eligible for the software update in the U.S.

Kia and Hyundai owners will be entitled to the upgrade beginning this week but it will only initially apply to certain makes and models. Vehicles eligible for the update include the 2017-2020 Hyundai Elantra, the 2015-2019 Sonata, and the 2020-2021 Venue.

The companies will advance through a slow rollout of the free upgrade and owners of Kona, Palisade, and Santa Fe models will become eligible for the security system update beginning in June 2023. 

Hyundai will notify eligible vehicle owners through the mail, email, and phone calls, and those who want to check when their car is able to get the upgrade can see the status by entering their VIN number on Hyundai’s website.

Can he actually do it? Can James Gunn complete a cohesive, emotional trilogy of superhero films within the restraints of the Marvel Cinematic Universe? He’s two-thirds of the way there and, with this latest look at Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, it looks like he may just achieve that.

Written and directed by Gunn in what’ll be his last Marvel movie, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is set for release May 5. It once again follows the adventures of Guardians Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket (Bradley Cooper), and Groot (Vin Diesel), but now they’ve also got Nebula (Karen Gillan), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Kraglin (Sean Gunn), and Cosmo (Maria Bakalova), in a story that involves Adam Warlock (Will Poulter) and Rocket’s past. Oh, and there’s that whole alternate Gamora (Zoe Saldana) thing too since she died and came back and… just check out the latest look here.

Certainly, there’s a lot this film has to do, not to mention that for some of the cast (like Dave Bautista for instance), it could be their final film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Is it because their characters die? Or are Kevin Feige and the Marvel Studios team going to be done with Guardians projects in the post-Gunn era? There’s certainly plenty of other Marvel heroes to go around.

Nevertheless, we’re anxiously awaiting to see what Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has to offer and we’ll be seeing it very, very soon. The movie is out May 5.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

Disney’s been trying to get one final Indiana Jones movie out of Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg for years, and come this summer, it’ll finally be out for the world to see. Indiana Jones & the Dial of Destiny aims to finally bring the adventures of the famous treasure hunter to an end and to mainly wash the taste of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull out of most folks’ mouths.

Set in 1969 during the Space Race, Ford’s Indy isn’t exactly fully behind NASA’s decision to bring Nazis on as part of its staff. And as it shockingly turns out, he’s completely right not to trust the Nazis! Instead of helping the US beat the Soviet Union to the moon, Mads Mikkelsen’s ex-Nazi scientist Jurgen Voller aims to use the Apollo moon landing for his own ends. The only thing left for Indy to do is stop Voller and his right-hand Klaber (Boyd Holbrook) the only way he knows how: by cracking his whip and punching Nazis in the face. And also by teaming up with his goddaughter, Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Helena Shaw.

With how fun it is to watch Nazis get socked in the mouth, and how alive Ford looks to be having, Dial of Destiny looks like it’ll succeed in bringing the film series to a close, or at least Ford’s time as Indy to a close.

Directed by James Mangold and also starring Antonio Banderas, John-Rhys Davies, and Toby Jones, Indiana Jones & the Dial of Destiny releases in theaters on June 30.

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Paramount’s Transformers films got a much-needed shot in the arm with 2018’s Bumblebee that allowed the studio to quietly reboot the otherwise maligned long-running franchise. For a series now 15 years old, some kind of shakeup has been needed for a while now, and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts looks to offer that in the form of time-traveling robots that can shapeshift into organic, prehistoric animals.

The new Super Bowl teaser for Beasts doesn’t reveal much in the way of a larger plot, but it does provide what the films have become known for: car chases, human characters looking in awe and screaming, and giant robots punching each other while shifting their bodies mid-battle. Watching the Autobots and Decepticons fight with and against their eventual successors—the Maximals, Terrorcons, and Predacons—is just Very Cool in the way Transformers fights often can be. Turns out, adding robot animals into the action-packed mix really does count for a lot.

In the same way Bumblebee was aiming to tap into that ‘80s nostalgia that made Transformers so beloved back in the day, Rise of the Beasts is very much trying to draw in fans of the Beast Wars sub-franchise. With classic characters like Optimus Primal and Airazor part of the main cast alongside series old heads Optimus Prime and Bumblebee, and all of them sporting cleaner looks compared to the mainline films, the film seems primed to give fans of the property what they want, in more ways than one.

Directed by Steven Caple Jr. and starring Anthony Ramos, Dominique Fishback, and Tobe Nwigwe, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts will release in theaters on June 9.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

LINCOLN, NE — J.D. Beutler, local patent lawyer and father of daughters, was seen returning home from Battalion Bazaar Army Surplus with a full hazmat suit, a titanium-lined drain auger, and an unwavering gleam in his eye as he prepared to clean the shower drain.

Witnesses reported Beutler sending his tearful family to the safety of his in-laws’ before entering the noxious wasteland known to locals as “The Kids’ Bathroom.”

“Come on you filthy, crinigerous interloper, be gone with you!” Yelled Beutler through the full-body personal protective equipment as he battled to pull the fetid ball of slime, hair, and little elastic bands from its mildew-strewn lair. “Is that all you’ve got?”

After what seemed like days wrestling the putrid clog, Beutler paused and backed away, having felt the hair clog budge. To his alarm, the slurping, pungent obstruction rose from the drain on its own, towering over him in a sickening, monstrous form, and spoke.

AT LONG LAST, I, THE DRAIN-O-GORGON, AM SET FREE…

Bolstered by an unbreakable love for his daughters as well as a desire for them to not have to use his shower, Beutler charged, dodging tentacles interwoven with fingernail clippings and hair clips in a fight to contain the swampy form.

Battle-worn, bruised, and having filled his hazmat suit with sweat and only a little bit of pee, J.D. Beutler overtook the Drain-o-gorgon and, with an intense feeling of triumph, forced the monster out of the tub and into his Paranormal Elimination Proton Pack (50% off at Battalion Bazaar).

But as the creature disappeared into permanent confinement, the Drain-o-gorgon issued a final warning:

YOU WILL NEVER FULLY RID OF ME, FATHER OF DAUGHTERS…WE SHALL MEET AGAIN IN ABOUT THREE MONTHS’ TIME, SOONER IF YOU HOST A SLEEPOVER…

Watch as a fired Twitter employee applies for her first *actual* job:

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