



A coalition of attorneys general — including Illinois Atty. Gen. Kwame Raoul — urged Kia and Hyundai to take “comprehensive action” over Chicago-area car thefts.
Kia and Hyundai recently announced a customer service campaign to upgrade the software of affected vehicles.
Kia says it has directly contacted more than 1.1 million owners and lessees of impacted Kia vehicles to “let them know of the availability of the software upgrade and to advise them to schedule a free installation at any Kia dealer,” according to a statement released by the automaker. Kia was expected to contact more than 2 million owners and lessees by the end of March.
Hyundai has reached out to more than 1 million owners and lessees about its own free software update, according to a statement from the company.
But Raoul and the coalition said in a letter that the plan was “insufficient, incomplete and long overdue.”
“I urge Kia and Hyundai to accelerate a software upgrade to ensure consumers’ vehicles are properly equipped to guard against theft,” Raoul said in a statement. “I stand committed to protecting consumers and our communities, and I urge these car companies to do their part to prevent these thefts.”
Raoul and the coalition of attorneys general said that Kia and Hyundai “chose not to include anti-theft immobilizers as standard equipment on several vehicle models sold in the United States, despite including the immobilizers on the same affected models sold in other countries.”
“As a result, the number of thefts and the use of stolen vehicles to commit other thefts in the U.S. significantly increased,” according to a press release from the attorney general’s office.
Last year, there were more than 7,000 Hyundai and Kia thefts in Chicago, which account for 10% of all registered Kia vehicles and 7% of all registered Hyundai vehicles in the city, according to the attorney general’s office.
According to the coalition, several major insurance companies are now refusing to insure the Hyundai and Kia models most susceptible to theft.
In response to the comments made by the coalition, Kia said it was “committed to working with officials and with law enforcement agencies at the state and local level to ensure vehicle security.”
“In addition to this [software] upgrade, we have already provided more than 23,000 steering wheel locks to over 120 law enforcement agencies across the country for them to distribute — at no cost — to impacted owners,” the statement said. “We will continue to make these locks available as they are needed.”
Hyundai also initiated a program to begin reimbursement to eligible customers for their purchase of steering wheel locks.
The company has shipped more than 40,000 steering wheel locks to more than 370 law enforcement agencies and will “continue to provide free steering wheel locks to them for distribution to residents who own or lease affected models.”