A coalition of attorneys general from across the country and Illinois are pushing for automakers Hyundai and Kia to issue a safety recall after a hidden security flaw inside millions of their vehicles was exposed online last year, leading to an explosion of thefts, accidents and deaths.
NBC 5 Responds has been covering the issue closely, as Chicago is among the many U.S. cities that have seen Hyundai and Kia vehicle thefts skyrocket.
Many Hyundai and Kia models made from 2011 to 2021 do not have standard anti-theft technology installed, which prevents the vehicle from starting without a key present.
Once this flaw was exposed in videos on social media last year, in Chicago, thefts increased by more than 890%, amounting to thousands of cars stolen, according to Chicago Police records obtained by NBC 5.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said last month that the “social media challenge” involving Hyundai and Kia thefts “has spread nationwide and has resulted in at least 14 reported crashes and eight fatalities.”
Safety advocates fear that is a drastic undercount.
On Thursday, the Coalition of Attorneys General, which includes Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, acknowledged what NBC 5 had reported a month ago: With this security flaw present, safety advocates believe these vehicles do not meet federal safety standards, and therefore, a recall is required by law.
Standing in front of several Hyundai and Kia vehicles, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said Thursday that it’s telling that the anti-theft technology that was not included in cars made in the U.S., was included in cars made abroad.
“Hyundai and Kia are among the only car manufactures that did not include this industry standard technology in their U.S. cars,” Bonta said. “But [Hyundai and Kia] did include it in the same cars that they sold at the same time in Canada and in Europe.”
“We’re here because Hyundai and Kia violated federal regulations,” Bonta argued.
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Hyundai and Kia disagree, maintaining that all of its vehicles on the road meet federal safety standards. A spokesperson for Kia added that since there is “no defect in the security features… a recall is neither appropriate nor necessary under federal law.”
At the heart of the debate over whether Hyundai and Kia are legally required to issue a recall is federal motor vehicle safety standard (FMVSS) 114, which requires all vehicles in the United States to “have a starting system which, whenever the key is removed… prevents the normal activation of the vehicle's engine or motor.”
Auto safety experts have pointed to the fact that the Hyundai and Kia models vulnerable to theft lack a device called a standard engine immobilizer, which prevents a car from starting without the key present, and as a result, thieves can start and steal these cars easily, in some cases using just a USB cord.
When NBC 5 asked federal regulators how Hyundai and Kia’s vehicles met these federal safety requirements, a spokesperson for the NHTSA told NBC 5 Responds that the automakers themselves are responsible for “self-certifying” their vehicles.
“Under Federal law, vehicle manufacturers are responsible to self-certify that their vehicles comply with all applicable federal motor vehicle safety standards,” a spokesperson for the NHTSA told NBC 5 Responds. “NHTSA does not approve vehicles as being in compliance.”
Auto safety experts believe NHTSA should be doing more to protect the public.
“The federal rules dictate that if you present an unreasonable risk to Motor Vehicle Safety, you've got to do a safety recall. It's not an option,” Sean Kane with Strategies & Research, Inc. told NBC 5 last month. "And the watchdog agency, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, has apparently brokered a deal that doesn't require [the automakers] to do a recall."
California Attorney General Bonta agrees.
“Hyundai and Kia have left us with no choice but to call on the federal government to either order a mandatory recall or work with the companies to institute a voluntary recall,” Bonta said.
Hyundai told NBC 5 this problem was caused by criminals on social media, not by the automakers themselves.
“Thieves discovered a specific method by which to bypass the vehicles’ security features and then documented and promoted their exploits on TikTok and other social media channels,” a company spokesperson said. “In response, Hyundai has taken comprehensive action to assist our customers.”
Hyundai and Kia say in response to the thefts, they have now offered a free software-upgrade to owners of vehicles with this security flaw that they believe will fix the problem.
“Kia has contacted over two million owners and lessees of Kia vehicles to let them know of the availability of the software upgrade,” Kia said in a statement. “More than 165,000 eligible customers have already had the upgrade installed.”
In addition to the software upgrade, Hyundai has also offered its drivers insurance options, after insurers State Farm and Progressive said they would limit covering Hyundai and Kia vehicles, based on the high risk of theft.
Hyundai customers with their Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) can use an online tool at this website here to see if they are eligible to schedule their upgrade.
Kia owners can search their VIN using this online tool on Kia’s website linked here to find out if and when their vehicle is eligible for the free software upgrade.
But Attorney General Bonta said these software updates do not go far enough and are “not sufficient.”
“When you consider that frustrated and scared customers lost their biggest investment at no fault of their own, or when you consider that law enforcement agencies have had to pull resources from other priorities because so many cars are being stolen," Bonta said Thursday, "the mistakes are obvious and so is the need for action.”
