Millions of Hyundai and Kia owners in the U.S. are finally getting a long-overdue security fix, years after a surge in thefts exposed serious vulnerabilities in the automakers’ vehicles.
The response comes after mounting pressure from regulators and attorneys general following the fallout from the so-called ‘Kia Challenge,’ a theft method that spread rapidly across TikTok and other social media platforms.
A bipartisan coalition of 36 attorneys general has announced a settlement with Hyundai and Kia over the sale of vehicles that lacked basic security protections. Those shortcomings made millions of cars easy targets for thieves and left both owners and local authorities dealing with the consequences.
That said, don’t expect a windfall if you’re an owner. The settlement is widely seen as underwhelming and appears to prioritize state governments over affected drivers. Hyundai and Kia will pay $4.5 million to dozens of states and the District of Columbia to “defray the costs of the investigation,” a phrase that makes it clear where the first chunk of money is going.
Vehicle owners fare far worse by comparison. Hyundai and Kia will set aside up to $4.5 million in restitution for consumers, but those funds are limited to “eligible consumers whose cars are damaged by thieves.”
That’s a thin slice of compensation considering what many owners went through. The California Attorney General’s Office pointed out that victims often had their vehicles stolen or rendered undrivable, only to face “significant costs for repairs and towing.”
Even owners who avoided theft weren’t spared entirely, as resale values dropped and insurance premiums climbed, or coverage was dropped altogether.
Additional details are laid out on the Hyundai/Kia Multistate Immobilizer Settlement website. According to the site, owners whose vehicles suffered a “Qualifying Theft” may receive up to $4,500 if the car was deemed a total loss, or up to $2,250 for a partial loss. If the incident was limited to a qualifying theft attempt, compensation tops out at just $375.
Those numbers are hard to swallow. Even an unsuccessful theft attempt can leave a car with smashed windows and a destroyed steering column, repairs that can easily exceed $375. In practical terms, many owners will still be left covering a large portion of the damage themselves.
Beyond the modest payouts, Hyundai and Kia have agreed to make meaningful changes going forward. All future vehicles sold in the United States will come standard with engine immobilizers.
In addition, the automakers will offer free zinc-reinforced ignition cylinder protectors to as many as 7.1 million existing owners, roughly 4 million Hyundai vehicles and 3 million Kia models. This includes owners who were previously only eligible for a software-based anti-theft update.
Reuters noted that Minnesota’s Attorney General said installing these protectors could cost Hyundai and Kia more than $500 million if every eligible vehicle receives one. That figure is based on cost estimates provided by the automakers themselves and assumes full participation.
The broader context paints a grim picture. The California Attorney General’s Office stated that between 2011 and 2022, “Kia and Hyundai manufactured and sold cars with easily bypassed ignition locks and without anti-theft devices, called engine immobilizers, that were a standard feature in almost every other new car manufactured during that period, including the same Hyundai and Kia models sold in Canada and Europe.”
This decision left millions of vehicles vulnerable, and once that vulnerability went viral online, thefts exploded. In Los Angeles alone, thefts of Hyundai and Kia vehicles jumped by roughly 85% in 2022, accounting for about 20% of all stolen vehicles in the city.
The California Attorney General’s Office also noted that Hyundai and Kia held the first, second, and fifth spots for the most commonly stolen vehicles in the U.S. last year. Those models were the Hyundai Elantra, Hyundai Sonata, and Kia Optima.
The damage didn’t stop with stolen cars. California officials emphasized that “many of the stolen vehicles were used in connection with other crimes and were involved in traffic collisions, some fatal.”
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