A TikTok Videos has been ensuring for 2 years that numerous Allusion and Hyundais being stolen in several US cities. According to one Report from Business Insider In the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for example, car thefts have doubled since 2020. In St. Louis, Missouri, they have turned around from the second half of 2021 to the second half of 2022 157 percent elevated.
50 percent of the cars stolen in Chicago this year come from the two manufacturers. Strong growth was also recorded in cities such as New York and Los Angeles. Reason is the Let’s Challenge, which first went viral in 2021 and regained attention in mid-2022. The challenge shows how easy it is to hijack certain Kia and Hyundai models. The futurezone has reported.
recall or vulnerability
TikTok removed the video each time it reappeared, but the damage couldn’t be prevented. Meanwhile, 2 major US auto insurance companies have suspended their insurance for endangered Kia and Hyundai models. In addition, dozens of class action lawsuits have been filed against the South Korean manufacturers. This is intended to force them to either start a recall or fix the vulnerability.
The original TikTok video had shown how easily 2011-2021 Kia models and 2015-2021 Hyundai models can be stolen due to a security flaw. These cars do not have an electronic immobilizer installed. A USB cable alone is enough to hijack the cars. This makes it easy to remove the steering column cover and expose a USB port. The car can be started.
Steering wheel locks via police departments
In response to the criminal trend, Kia’s 2022 models have been given immobilizers – Hyundai’s models have been built since November 2021. However, there was no recall from either manufacturer. Instead, they want to make steering wheel locks available to affected car owners via some police departments, it said.
The manufacturers have not yet explained why neither Kia nor Hyundai have installed the basic equipment of an immobilizer, which has been standard practice since the 1990s. In the EU, for example, this equipment is mandatory.
