If it wasn't clear that Hyundai and Kia were facing a bind due to a rise in car thefts, new data has confirmed just how out of control the issue has gotten.
Insurance claims for Hyundai and Kia vehicles due to theft have increased by over 1,000% when comparing data from the first half of 2020 versus the first half of 2023, according to data from the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) as first reported by CNN.
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The data showed that in the 2020 period, 1.0 out of every 1,000 Hyundai and Kia vehicles that were insured were stolen, a number that increased to 11.2 per 1,000 vehicles in the same period in 2023. Meanwhile, the report said that other car makers maintained the same theft rate over the two periods.
In the United States, the two automakers operate independently of one another, though Kia is a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor (HYMLF) -).
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There was an expectation of an uptick in thefts driven by the "Kia Boyz" TikTok trend, which exposed the vulnerabilities of the securities of the two automakers. The trends revealed that Hyundai and Kia models built from 2011 to 2021 were particularly vulnerable because the vehicles were easier to start without a key compared with other brands because they did not have immobilizers.
Kia has recently issued an update in an attempt to fix some of the problems, but it's clear that the damage has already been done over the last few years.
The data from HLDI said that the most vulnerable models were those built between 2015 to 2019, particularly those that only need a button to start. CNN reported that some states that saw an uptick in stolen Kia and Hyundai vehicles include New York, Washington, Delaware, and Maryland.
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