Hyundai and Kia under fire in New York – Virgilio Motori

New York is suing Hyundai and Kiaaccusing the two companies of manufacturing classified vehicles “Very easy to steal”. The attorneys’ complaint is against automakers who, according to the indictment, were unable to install the controls on many of their models.

The silencers mentioned above are special anti-theft devices for car security, which should prevent starting the engine with keys other than the one associated with it. They seem to be inappropriate on many cars of the two South Korean companies. This is where the criticism of the most populous city in the USA began, because it seems that this lack has caused. “it opened the door to car theft, crime, reckless driving and public harm.”

Charges

New York and other cities have joined in suing Hyundai and Kia, which pleaded guilty to stealing several of their vehicles in America. According to New York, the two car companies – from 2011 to 2022 – failed to install so-called immobilizers for car safety.

Incidents of car theft

New York complains of a high number of car thefts, twice the number of cars stolen last year compared to 2021, and there was also a total. “stealing blast” in the first four months of 2023. The stolen car reports were true 977 from January to Aprilcompared to 148 episodes in the same period in 2022.

From September to December 2022, Hyundai vehicles stolen in New York alone rose from 12 to 104, and Kia vehicles followed suit, sadly, jumping from 10 to 99 stolen models, according to the city’s Department of Justice.

So it seems, according to the charges, there are models produced by well-known Korean brands that are not secure enough to be easily stolen by criminals. In a press release New York City said it intends to “consider the two companies responsible by refusing to subject some models of both cars to standard anti-theft measures following the increase in car thefts” and pointed out that, of all car manufacturers, only Hyundai and Kia have experienced these problems, or a few others.

Car thieves in America – according to lawyers – have learned to break the ignition covers of cars of the two brands, and have discovered how to start the car with a USB device, without needing the ignition code associated with the key.

Hyundai has admitted that it is true that some of its cars have had these problems, but insists that the cars are being produced. in compliance with all US federal requirements. The company has ensured that all its models sold in the US have noise reduction equipment as standard from 2021. And that’s not all, because Hyundai has also kept all its cars without software updates, which were about 4 million, just to go against the grain. the most active acts of theft at the moment. Thieves should be “down”.

Not only that, in response to the claims made by New York, Hyundai also installs cars with steering wheel locks, for customers who have requested it. Kia is doing just that, working on more than 3 million vehicles and responding to those demands by advertising them “baseless”.

As reported by the Financial Times, analysts say that car theft has not stopped despite the updates from Hyundai and Kia, because of this the two car manufacturers risk being sued from other cities in the USA as well. Unfortunately, the image of the two brands is at risk and during this period, many customers will no longer be interested in these cars, not to mention the costs associated with the case, which will weigh on the coffers of Hyundai and Kia.