Hyundai and Kia thefts soar more than 1000% since 2020

Certain Hyundai and Kia models saw a 10-fold increase in thefts in just the past three years, a wildly dramatic increase in the wake of a series of social media posts showing people how to steal the vehicles.

Certain Hyundai and Kia models saw a 10-fold increase in thefts in just the past three years, a wildly dramatic increase in the wake of a series of social media posts showing people how to steal the vehicles. Theft insurance claims for vulnerable Hyundais and Kias increased more than 1000% between the first half of 2020 and the first half of 2023, according to data from the Highway Loss Data Institute, an industry group that tracks insurance statistics. In the first half of 2020, roughly 1.6 out of every 1,000 insured Hyundais and Kias were reported stolen. That was about the same as for all other makes of cars. By the first half of 2023, though, that figure had risen to 11.2 per 1,0000. Meanwhile, the theft rate for all other makes of cars stayed about the same. During the first half of 2023, Hyundai and Kia theft claims were also more than seven times higher than for cars from other manufacturers, according to the HLDI. Certain older Hyundai and Kia models made between 2015 to 2019 are particularly vulnerable to car thieves. Less expensive versions of vehicles such as the Hyundai Santa Fe and Tucson and the Kia Forte and Sportage equipped with turn-key ignitions — as opposed to cars that only require a button press to start – are roughly twice as likely to be stolen as other vehicles of a similar age. Many of these vehicles lack some of the basic auto theft prevention technology, such as electronic immobilizers, included in most other vehicles even in those years, according to the HLDI. Electronic immobilizers rely on a computer chip in the car and another in the key that communicate to confirm that the key is authentic and really belongs to that vehicle.