Some Kia and Hyundai vehicles that use physical turn-keys instead of fobs and push-button starts are being targeted by thieves using USB cables — with trendy TikTok videos providing instruction.
The trend or “challenge” is being championed on the social media platform under the tag #KiaBoyz, and so far involves mostly teenaged boys, some too young to drive legally, breaking into the Korean cars, removing the steering column and key slot, and using an ordinary USB cable to turn the ignition, unlock the steering wheel, and start the vehicle. It can take less than a minute, and after the basic hack has been performed, the same cable can be used again and again to start the car.
The bad ‘Boyz’ are focusing on those 2010 to 2021 models that don’t use fobs and don’t contain factory-installed anti-theft devices known as immobilizers. Such immobilizers contain transponder chips that are read remotely by the car’s engine control unit to confirm a proper pairing and allow the car to be started.
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If you’re wondering why you haven’t seen headlines in your Canadian city, it’s because Canada made the anti-theft immobilizers a requirement in all vehicles in 2007.
U.S. owners are not so lucky. “It is unfortunate that criminals are using social media to target vehicles without engine immobilizers in a coordinated effort,” a Kia spokesperson told CNBC.
“While no car can be made theft-proof, criminals are seeking vehicles solely equipped with a steel key and ‘turn-to-start’ ignition system. The majority of Kia vehicles in the United States are equipped with a key fob and ‘push-button-to-start’ system, making them more difficult to steal. All 2022 Kia models and trims have an immobilizer applied either at the beginning of the model year or as a running change.”
Friends car got absolutely destroyed for a very cute and normal vandalism trend, chip in if you can! https://t.co/8G6Zh5Pkbs
— Bubbie I Wish I Was Aborted Yagga (@haikucreep) September 5, 2022
The trend has resulted in an influx of thefts in certain U.S. jurisdictions, including St. Petersburg, Florida, where police say there has been an 85-per-cent increase in Hyundai and Kia thefts compared with 2021, and where over a third of all thefts noted since mid-July are tied to the TikTok trend. Similarly, in Milwaukee, thefts of Korean vehicles represent two-thirds of all vehicle thefts, and have increased 2,500 per cent year over year.
Teenage boys being teenage boys, the vehicles are often left damaged and/or vandalized if and when they are recovered.
As a resident of Milwaukee where the Kia Boyz have been active for two years, I don’t think it’s realized widely enough what a colossal mistake this cost-saving move (not installing immobilizers) was by Hyundai/Kia and how it may be an existential crisis to their brands in the US https://t.co/mRODgj5lNb
— Mark Zastrow (@MarkZastrow) September 9, 2022
One lawyer in Missouri believes the automakers are partially responsible for the thefts for building vehicles that are too easy to make off with. Ken McLean’s law firm calls the issue a ‘defect,’ and has filed class action lawsuits in 12 states and counting.
“We’re receiving dozens of calls a day,” McClain told CNBC. “The manufacturer[s] ought to be paying for this.”
Keyword: 'Kia Boyz': U.S. Kia, Hyundai cars stolen for TikTok trend