Multiple cities sue Hyundai and Kia over ignition vulnerability that started viral trend

[midian182]

In brief: Kia and its parent company, Hyundai, are being sued by cities across the US for failing to install engine immobilizers in their vehicles. The vulnerability was exposed in viral TikTok and YouTube videos, leading to a spate of car thefts, injuries, and fatalities.

The Kia Challenge trend started circulating on social media in the middle of 2021. The clips show how it's possible to remove the steering column covering on some 2010-2020 Hyundai and Kia vehicles, revealing a slot that fits a USB Type-A plug. Turning the plug using a standard USB cable activates the ignition as the cars lack an immobilizer. Only vehicles that use a mechanical key rather than press-to-start ignition systems are susceptible to the technique.

Motherboard reports that Seattle, Baltimore, Cleveland, New York, Chicago, St. Louis, and Columbus have all sued Kia and Hyundai since the start of the year for not including immobilizers on their vehicles, making them easy to steal.

In a lawsuit filed last week by the City of Chicago, it was revealed that more than 8,800 Kia and Hyundai vehicles were stolen in the city throughout 2022, making up 41% of all car thefts. That figure has climbed to over 50% this year.

It's the same story in other cities, many of which have seen the number of Kia and Hyundai thefts increase by three-digit percentages. It's been especially bad in Milwaukee, regarded as the center of the Kia Boyz trend, which in June 2021 saw thefts of these vehicles increase 2,500% year-on-year.

In February, the United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced that the Kia challenge had been responsible for 14 reported crashes and eight fatalities.

In June, 18 state attorneys general asked for a recall of the cars, but the NHTSA said it had not determined that this issue constitutes either a safety defect or noncompliance requiring a recall.

Hyundai and Kia started rolling out free software updates earlier this year - installed via a dealer - that require the key to be in the ignition switch to start affected models. But just 650,000 vehicles have gotten the software update, out of three million in total. There have also been more than 190,000 wheel locks distributed.

In May, Hyundai and Kia agreed to pay $200 million to settle a consumer class-action lawsuit relating to the thefts.

More cities will likely join those suing Kia and Hyundai, lawsuits that the companies says are "without merit." Both automakers now include immobilizers on their new cars.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/99947-multiple-cities-sue-hyundai-kia-over-ignition-vulnerability.html

 

[whateversa]

How about law suits against the people posting the videos...

 

[yRaz]

Is an engine immobilizer a legal requirement? Also, I don't see how a company can be sued because of a TikTok trend.

 

[dangh]

- be a city major
- hoard monies and have underpaid police forces and social initiatives
- criminal activities are on raise
- people stealing cars for fun
- blame car manufacturer to hoard more monies
- have happy live outside the clusterf**k you created

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Kia/hyundai should sue these cities for failure to stop criminals and smearing their name. It'd be a stronger case. It's not kia's responsibility when cities allow criminals to run rampant with no punishment.

The new thing now is either not prosecuting GTA if the subject is under 18, or putting them in a "diversion program" which amounts to saying sorry. Gee, I wonder why they keep doing it.....

Is an engine immobilizer a legal requirement? Also, I don't see how a company can be sued because of a TikTok trend.

No, they are still optional. Which makes this lawsuit even worse, they are being sued over something that isnt mandatory to do.

 

[VitalyT]

Dying from self-inflicted EV-plague. Well done!

I do not agree with the green movement. The world is now swirling down the toilet so fast, we're never gonna make it to the consequence of global warming. It will be another killer virus, or nuclear war, or AI takeover that will take care of this pathetic civilization.

 

[godrilla]

Dying from self-inflicted EV-plague. Well done!

I do not agree with the green movement. The world is now swirling down the toilet so fast, we're never gonna make it to the consequence of global warming. It will be another killer virus, or nuclear war, or AI takeover that will take care of this pathetic civilization.

Behind all those is probably an opportunistic crony.

 

[wiyosaya]

Gee, I wonder why this crowd is not also out with pitchforks, clubs, and slings against cities for IoT vulnerabilities? After all, the cities are responsible for securing your home networks, aren't they? I mean, WTF, these cities let network pirates run rampant through neighborhoods with their packet sniffers looking for IoT devices with asinine default passwords, don't they?

After all, this is the same thing with clueless car manufacturers having weak security in their vehicles to which some "security researcher" discovered the vulnerability and put into the vulnerability into the public domain, isn't it? I mean, WTF? What ******* car manufacturer would be so stupid to "hide" a way to start the car without a key under the steering wheel cover? Seems to me that a car manufacturer would have to be pretty ****ing dumb to do something so ****ing stupid as this.

 

[BuckarooBonzaii]

Well considering the cities with the highest crime rates and losing money because of rampant theft in stores, smash and grab, businesses moving out which means less tax revenues, etc. City Government has now become robbers.

 

[Alexmx]

Kia sells the same models in other countries and those models have immobilizer in all trims, this was just a move by them to save a couple of bucks. I don't understand the people riding kia's donk saying they have no responsibility in the matter.

 

[PEnnn]

The biggest winner in the blame game?? US insurance companies.

They have asked to double or triple their premiums and were granted permission by some spinless politicos, especially the sweaty little man in Florida.

 

[mailpup]

The biggest winner in the blame game?? US insurance companies.

They have asked to double or triple their premiums and were granted permission by some spinless politicos, especially the sweaty little man in Florida.

Some insurance companies flatly refuse to insure the models in question.

 

[Lew Zealand]

Dying from self-inflicted EV-plague. Well done!

I do not agree with the green movement. The world is now swirling down the toilet so fast, we're never gonna make it to the consequence of global warming. It will be another killer virus, or nuclear war, or AI takeover that will take care of this pathetic civilization.

LOL, these aren't EVs but regular old gas cars. So by your impeccable logic:

Once again ICEs are dying from a self-inflicted plague.

 

[3ogdy]

How about law suits against the people posting the videos...

Where's the freedom of speech and freedom to share information. If I want to show the world that my car has a vulnerability, I have the right to do so.
Again, I wouldn't be telling people to steal vehicles, but I'd just merely warn them about the risks.

 

[Godel]

It's tough if you own one of these as a driver, but they'd make great purchases for police departments as bait vehicles.

 

[Bobbydpue]

Dying from self-inflicted EV-plague. Well done!

I do not agree with the green movement. The world is now swirling down the toilet so fast, we're never gonna make it to the consequence of global warming. It will be another killer virus, or nuclear war, or AI takeover that will take care of this pathetic civilization.

This article has nothing to do with any "green movement".

 

[Bobbydpue]

Where's the freedom of speech and freedom to share information. If I want to show the world that my car has a vulnerability, I have the right to do so.
Again, I wouldn't be telling people to steal vehicles, but I'd just merely warn them about the risks.

Those videos weren't posted in a Kia forum. They were posted on Tiktok. I you left the doors to your house unlocked and someone posted a video on tiktok with your address saying the doors were unlocked would you call that freedom of speech and freedom to share information? The whole point the OP was making was to blame those who stole cars and the ones telling people how to do it and not the company who didn't steal cars or tell people how to do it.

 

[Bobbydpue]

Kia sells the same models in other countries and those models have immobilizer in all trims, this was just a move by them to save a couple of bucks. I don't understand the people riding kia's donk saying they have no responsibility in the matter.

If they don't have a legal responsibility to install them, is it their fault or the law? Are they requried in other countries?

 

[TempleOrion]

If they don't have a legal responsibility to install them, is it their fault or the law? Are they requried in other countries?

Mandatory in the UK, Germany and Finland since 1998.

 

[wiyosaya]

If they don't have a legal responsibility to install them, is it their fault or the law? Are they requried in other countries?

Cheaping out to save a couple of bucks is always the fault of the one cheaping out to save a couple of bucks, IMO. After all, how much can one of these devices cost? And what does their cheaping out say about how much they care about the customers who would buy one of these vehicles? Kia and Hyundai are scum IMO. I will never buy one of their vehicles even if it does have an immobilizer in it.

IMO, your argument is very similar to the argument against installing seatbelts in automobiles when everyone knew seatbelts would save lives. It took a law to force automobile manufacturers to install seatbelts in the US. Why? Because automobile manufacturers though seatbelts were too expensive - even though they would save lives.

The worst thing about this, IMO, is the fact that it can be fixed by a software update FFS. Yet Kia and Hyundai won't do a voluntary recall on this? WTF? And worse yet, they could have put this in their software before they sold these cars. Even if they did do a recall, the recall would not tarnish the reputations of Kia or Hyundai any worse than they already are.

I bet everyone here supporting Kia and Hyundai would be bitching to the nth degree if they had to pay extra to have a feature on a car they bought enabled by software.

Pot meet kettle.

 

[WhoCaresAnymore]

How about law suits against the people posting the videos...

I'm sorry, that would mean that the perpetrators would be the issue. You seem to forget that the Victims are now the guilty ones. The USA is close to being a lost cause. Right now, the PL virus is contained in the bigger cities, but it's spreading.

 

[WhoCaresAnymore]

I commend Hyundai for taking swift action. Had my daughter's Elantra in and out of the service center in 30 minutes. New security stickers on the car windows and all.

Remember to take all of your remotes with you when you go for the reprogramming.