this post was submitted on 08 Aug 2024
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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.

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[–] [email protected] 107 points 4 months ago (2 children)

You’ll still get a broken window and steering column because the thieves can’t tell if the car has had the update or not and will still attempt to steal it.

[–] [email protected] 80 points 4 months ago

I have a Kia and got the software upgrade; they put a little red sticker on your windows saying the vehicle is equipped with anti-theft software.

But something tells me most thieves aren’t checking for a sticker before they smash the window…

[–] JWBananas 41 points 4 months ago

Can confirm. Happened to a friend within the past month. Theirs wasn't even on the list of affected models.

[–] obinice 103 points 4 months ago (7 children)

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.

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 37 points 4 months ago (1 children)

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.

https://youtu.be/DJA7jDF7bLE?si=7uoD6USzsuzg0vC2

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago (2 children)

🤯 this is so fucked up Like, is this cyperpunk coming true?

[–] [email protected] 15 points 4 months ago (2 children)

No this is how every car was stolen prior to the 90s/00s. The "USB cord" is a red herring as the shape of the USB-A port just happens to match the remaining bit of the ignition cylinder once the lock has been removed, but journalists love to hype that part up as if this is some technological attack.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

always has been. we live in cyberpunk dystopia

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (10 children)

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.

I mean, many new cars don't even have an old school key ignition at all.

[–] AceBonobo 17 points 4 months ago (5 children)

A lot of smart key cars are vulnerable to relay attacks. It's not a solved security issue by any means.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago (1 children)

What’s more, all keyless cars still have a fob with proximity and if the fob dies, they legally have to have a way to start the car without the fob battery which is why they all have an nfc reader somewhere (usually in a cup holder) so you can put you dead fob on it and the car will start like normal.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago (4 children)

All keyless start kias and hyundais are/were immune to the Kia boys trick

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[–] barsquid 5 points 4 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.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 months ago (3 children)

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.

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[–] [email protected] 34 points 4 months ago (5 children)

My car was never affected in the first place and I'm still getting fucked by my insurance saying it's a "theft risk" charging out the ass

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Insurance companies like to claim they've done all the math and research but they're just lazy asses looking for any reason to raise rates.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago (1 children)

us insurance sounds lovely

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

They are awful lying cunts

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago

I’d guess a result of the dumber criminals not knowing what specific models are vulnerable. This fiasco tainted the entire brand.

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 4 months ago (7 children)

Here's my simple solution: drive a super old car. My car:

  • isn't worth stealing
  • is immune to popular TikTok attacks because the tech is too old
  • drives just fine

There are some downsides, but at least I don't have to deal with this nonsense.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Here's my simple solution: be unable to operate a car.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Simpler solution: Drive stick

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

I miss my stick. My starter went out, so I push started it for a few months until I had the time and money to get it fixed. With an automatic, I'm just screwed...

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[–] BigDiction 6 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I went from an 07 Escape to a 2023 RAV4. The thing just won’t shut the fuck up. Mike any kinda of parking the detection beeps. Console software is annoying.

Miss my relatively dumb car.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago (2 children)

The legal requirement that cars just beep within zero seconds if you start them without a buckled seatbelt is just actively harmful to safety. It trains you to despise and ignore all safety alarms. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alarm_fatigue

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[–] slumberlust 4 points 4 months ago

My wifes genesis is the same. Beeps if you do something beeps if you don't beep beep beep beep. All the telemetry bullshit and bad ui combined with cheap hardware and latency. It sucks ..

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[–] davidagain 26 points 4 months ago

Despite the fixes, theft claims for the affected Hyundai and Kia models continue to exceed industry norms, including for vehicles equipped with the upgraded software, according to HLDI. One reason could be that the software-based immobilizer only activates if the driver remembers to lock the vehicle with a fob, while many people are in the habit of using the switch on the door handle.

If ever there were a problem that is ripe for fixing with the first version of the software upgrade, not a future one, this was it.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I just had to purchase a vehicle. My insurance company basically asked me not to buy a KIA or Hyundai and warned that the premiums for those makes were super high.

[–] WantsToPetYourKitty 11 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

It's funny that even though theft rates have plummeted since the mass software upgrade, premiums have stayed high. They have savant-level mathematicians (actuaries) evaluating risk and even with compelling data showing otherwise, they choose to keep labeling these cars high risk and continue to charge exorbitant premiums.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

The whole “insurance price is determined by geniuses” thing is just bullshit. They benefit greatly from perpetuating the myth but never really demonstrate competence. Their calculations are very non-specific. For example determining risk by ZIP code in places where one side of the tracks/street/infrastructure built with structural discrimination in mind is just not granular enough. Another example would be that some model of vehicle came with optional emergency braking, but taking the option doesn’t change insurance calculations at all, but having the feature as standard for all models reduces the price for those models.

“Insurance actuaries are sevants” is just an extension of the lie that “free” markets are 100% efficient and always correct.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago

Same. I was looking at cars and told my insurance, who then said, "If you get a KIA, you never have to worry about losing your car keys, since you can search online on how easy it is to break in."

That throwaway joke threw me into the rabbit hole of the Kia challenge. Definitely a shit show.

[–] mightyfoolish 23 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I'm not buying this PR garbage. KIA and Hyundai thefts fall as cars lacking basic security hardware were stolen and wrecked until there are no more to steal and wreck.

Thank you for re-adding late 20th century tech to your 21st century cars. /s

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

A lot of cars in my neighborhood have been using a club to lock the steering wheel. Reminds me of the 80s-90s.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Those do absolutely nothing to stop someone from stealing a car as they attach to your steering wheel made of foam and plastic which takes seconds to cut through. They've only come back in to popularity due to grifters willing to sell people a false sense of security.

[–] mightyfoolish 4 points 4 months ago (2 children)

To be fair, they add another minute or two to the time it takes to steal the car.

I also feel these bars make your car harder to steal than the other car on the same block. If everyone is using them, you're car is again only as hard to steal as that other car on the block. This could make it a target again.

However, that update or a third party solution is going to do a whole lot more.

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[–] einlander 12 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

I wasn't going to get a new car any time soon. And my next car was going to be a Kia Soul. But I went with another brand. The Kia/Hyundai brand is hot right now. Crackheads and thieves aren't trying to figure out if your car is affected, you still end up with an inoperpable car. Maybe in a few years it will die down.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago (3 children)

Does this update cover the new issue where the keyless cars can be broken into?

https://insideevs.com/news/724328/hyundai-kia-ioniq-5-gameboy/

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[–] Carbonizer 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

My 2013 Forte wasn't eligible for the upgrade :(

[–] RedAggroBest 5 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

If it wasn't eligible for the FIX (this is NOT an upgrade, you are entitled to them fixing this shit if it does effect you)maybe it wasn't the right ignition system? My 2013 Elantra needed it and it seemed to be on the older end of cars who had the vulnerability.

[–] Tautvydaxx 4 points 4 months ago (4 children)

You would all lough to your grave if you would see how shit is the immo system in these cars are. To add a new key to a car you have to read immo data of the car and than decode it to get a password to make the key. In these cars you just sit in the car, make the car go into add key mode and than just touch the key to antena, and thats it, no passwords no immo data reading.

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