© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The brand of Hyundai Motor Firm is pictured on the New York Worldwide Auto Present, in Manhattan, New York Metropolis, U.S., April 13, 2022. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
By Doyinsola Oladipo
(Reuters) – The California legal professional normal and the attorneys normal of 17 different states on Thursday requested a federal regulator to recall Hyundai and Kia automobiles, saying they’re extra prone to be stolen as a result of they lack security options which are customary in different vehicles.
Hyundai Motor Co and Kia Corp automobiles signify a big share of stolen vehicles in a number of U.S. cities, in line with information from police and state officers. Whereas most vehicles lately have been put in with trade customary anti-theft gadgets, some entry-level fashions from the Korean automakers weren’t geared up with engine immobilizers or push-button ignitions.
Hyundai Motor is the largest shareholder of Kia.
“Kia’s and Hyundai’s failure to put in customary security options on a lot of their automobiles have put car house owners and the general public in danger,” California Lawyer Normal Rob Bonta, who’s spearheading the push by the states for a recall, mentioned in an announcement. The states have written to the Nationwide Freeway Visitors Security Administration with their considerations.
Hyundai argued that whereas a few of its automobiles lacked immobilizers, they had been compliant with federal anti-theft necessities as engine immobilizers usually are not federally mandated.
“These particular fashions comply absolutely with all relevant federal requirements, a recall is neither applicable nor essential underneath federal legislation,” mentioned Kia in an announcement.
U.S. theft claims had been practically twice as frequent for Hyundai and Kia automobiles in contrast with all different producers amongst 2015-2019 model-year automobiles, the Insurance coverage Institute for Freeway Security’s Freeway Loss Knowledge Institute mentioned final yr.
TikTok movies that present the way to steal Kia and Hyundai vehicles with out push-button ignitions and immobilizing anti-theft gadgets have unfold nationwide, resulting in a raft of automobile thefts.
Bonta mentioned the carmakers included the trade customary immobilizer in the identical fashions in Canada and Europe however selected to “carve out” america.
“As an alternative of taking accountability with applicable corrective motion, these carmakers have chosen as a substitute to cross this threat onto shoppers and our communities,” Bonta mentioned.
The automakers in February mentioned they’d supply software program upgrades to eight.3 million U.S. automobiles to assist curb thefts.
Nonetheless, upgrades won’t be accessible for many affected automobiles till June and can’t be put in on some 2011-2022 fashions, Bonta’s assertion mentioned.
(This story has been corrected to say some, not all, Hyundai and Kia fashions lack immobilizers and push button ignitions in paragraph 2, and adjustments the explanation why Hyundai mentioned it’s compliant with federal necessities in paragraph 5)
