A social media trend, dubbed the “Kia Challenge,” has appeared to compound the automakers’ problems in recent years, with people posting videos showing how to steal Hyundai and Kia cars. At its height, the Kia Challenge was linked to at least 14 reported crashes and eight fatalities, according to figures from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
About 9 million vehicles have been impacted by the rash of thefts, including Hyundai Elantras and Sonatas as well as Kia Fortes and Souls. Hyundai and Kia earlier this year agreed to pay $200 million to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by drivers who had their vehicles stolen.
Technology is helping foil car thieves making life miserable for owners of Hyundai and Kia vehicles.
Hyundai and Kia upgraded their cars’ anti-theft tech in early 2023. Vehicles equipped with the enhanced software will only start if the owner’s key, or an identical duplicate, is in the ignition.
The rate at which the Korean automakers’ cars are stolen has fallen by more than half since the companies upgraded their anti-theft software, according to new research from the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI). Hyundai and Kia thefts have soared in recent years after criminals discovered that certain car models lacked engine immobilizers — technology that has long been standard in other vehicles.
obinice@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Fucking… What? A 2023 anti theft technology upgrade added the space age cutting edge concept of starting the car with… the key?
If my car could start without the key in the bloody ignition I’d be furious, that’s what the key is for, haha. You can add extra doohickeys to enhance security, but the first line of defence is the key that starts the car.
Absolute madness.
Raiderkev@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Watch the channel 5 Kia boys episode. It was really fucking easy to steal kia’s n Hyundai’s. Took the guy like 30 seconds to do it. You just ripped a piece of plastic off, and jammed a USB cord into the ignition, turned it, and off u went. They encountered one of these updated ones and failed as well.
Warning, the Kia boys are fucking insufferable twats.
youtu.be/DJA7jDF7bLE?si=7uoD6USzsuzg0vC2
Petter1@lemm.ee 3 months ago
🤯 this is so fucked up Like, is this cyperpunk coming true?
Grippler@feddit.dk 3 months ago
Keyless start is fucking awesome though, just get in the car and drive. I wouldn’t even consider a car without after having one with it. Pretty much all other manufacturers have this in a safe way that doesn’t make the cars easier to steal. Its not the keyless start that’s the issue, its how they implemented it.
AceBonobo@lemmy.world 3 months ago
A lot of smart key cars are vulnerable to relay attacks. It’s not a solved security issue by any means.
RandomGen1@lemm.ee 3 months ago
All keyless start kias and hyundais are/were immune to the Kia boys trick
barsquid@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Still, it would be cool if they didn’t charge hundreds of dollars for a replacement key that costs them a couple bucks.
Raiderkev@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Til someone uses flipper to clone your key n jack your shit
ShepherdPie@midwest.social 3 months ago
They were vulnerable because they didn’t use chipped keys therefore people could break the ignition cylinder off and rotate the actual switch behind it to start the car. Cars with immobilizers still wouldn’t start even if you removed the lock cylinder because the sensor didn’t detect the chip. This is basically how most all cars worked prior to the 90s/00s which is where the trope of “using a screwdriver to steal a car” came from.
I’m really curious how they were able to add this in using software alone since you’d need some sort of sensor to detect the key along with keys that have a chip embedded in them.
Petter1@lemm.ee 3 months ago
😄so, my dacia spring can be stolen like that as well? It has one key without even a battery 🤣 Luckily I live in peaceful Switzerland, so I don’t even have to lock the car overnight…
Slithers@reddthat.com 3 months ago
I don’t know this to be a fact, but we own a Kia targeted by this whole ‘challenge’ business, and my understanding is that this issue is primarily because remote start was a factory installed feature for most of the generation and the “software update” that enhances security prevents remote starters from working.
the_toast_is_gone@lemmy.world 3 months ago
I had my Sonata stolen last year. The problem is that, by default, there was neither a key checker nor a steering immobilizer built into the vehicles. These are industry standard features for every car manufacturer… Except Kia and Hyundai. These are required features in every car sold in every Western nation… Except the United States. To have excluded this literal 90s tech from their vehicles when they’re so common that no one would ever stop to think about whether their car has them constitutes a serious lie by omission on the part of Kia and Hyundai, in my opinion. If I knew that all you had to do was rip off the ignition and shove something onto a peg to screw off with the car, I would have told the dealer to stick it up his butt.
For those wondering: I had comprehensive insurance, so I was paid the full value of the vehicle after it was totaled. I bought a Toyota Camry with the money and it’s a great car. I am never buying Kia or Hyundai cars again and I recommend everyone else avoid them from here on out. Like, if this is what they’re willing to do to save $30 per assembled vehicle, what else might be lurking in their newer vehicles that we won’t know about until it’s too late?
ayyy@sh.itjust.works 3 months ago
Nope, they just went so fucking cheap that they didn’t even bother verifying the presence of a key to start the car. It’s got nothing to do with technological hacking, it’s just the same basic hot wiring that was pervasive before the invention of computers.
AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Yep. No one would have stolen my SAAB anyway, since it was a stick shift, but if someone had tried, they’d have gotten a nasty surprise. On the '80s models the stick shift had a half inch steel pin that locked the car in reverse if a sensor in the ignition didn’t sense the key, and tell it to disengage. You could hotwire the car just fine, but I would almost pay to see how you explain to the cops why you’re driving down the road in reverse.