A software update is helping drive down Kia and Hyundai’s car theft rates by half, a new analysis found. The Kia Boys phenomenon began during the covid pandemic.
The Kia Boys may have met their match. A software update that first rolled out last year to owners of Hyundai and Kia vehicles without electronic immobilizers has cut theft rates by more than half, according to a new analysis from the Highway Loss Data Institute .
’s database, an estimated 30 percent of the eligible Hyundais and 28 percent of the eligible Kias have received the software update. But the institute’s analysis ends in December 2023; the automakers claim that approximately 60 percent of eligible vehicles have been updated since then.
says that theft claim frequencies were 53 percent lower for vehicles with the upgrade than for those that didn’t get it. The frequency of whole vehicle theft saw an even more dramatic drop after the upgrade at 64 percent. But theft rates for Hyundai and Kia vehicles remain “elevated” as compared to other brands, the institute says — even for models with the update.
is that the software-based immobilizer only activates if the driver remembers to lock the vehicle with a key fob, while many people are in the habit of using the switch on the door handle. Vandalism claims also remain elevated for Hyundai and Kia owners, as would-be thieves are breaking into the vehicles and stealing items and damaging the interior after finding themselves thwarted by the software update.
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