Hyundai and Kia issue software upgrades to thwart killer TikTok car theft hack Korean car-makers Hyundai and Kia will issue software updates to some of their models after a method of stealing them circulated on TikTok, leading to many thefts and even some deaths. The "Kia Challenge" started circulating in mid-2022 and explained that it's possible to remove the steering column covering on some Hyundai and …
"The software upgrade modifies certain vehicle control modules on Hyundai vehicles equipped with standard 'turn-key-to-start' ignition systems," The car-maker explained. "As a result, locking the doors with the key fob will set the factory alarm and activate an 'ignition kill' feature so the vehicles cannot be started when subjected to the popularized theft mode."
I know that this is really not a new thing to have - even the (ancient even 15 years ago) Renault of friends had that (insert joke about French cars here...). And I also know that insureances sort of expect this to be present. How is this absent in recent-ish models? My mind is boggled...
Maybe its territory, the Elantra, Sonata Venue are not currently part of the range on sale in UK, unless it uses a different name. I’ve never heard of or seen a Venue.
Factory fitted immobilisers have been compulsory for all new cars sold in UK since 1998.
A quick picture search suggests that the Hyundai Venue is probably the vehicle that is sold as the Hyundai Kona in the UK.
Personally, I miss the days when car companies put so little thought in to the names of the cars that Ford had a couple of cars named after porn mags[1], Mitsubishi had the Starion[2] and the Toyota MR2 didn't sell so well in France [3].
[1] Escort and Fiesta
[2] Although it's not meant to sound like "Stallion", it does if you say it with a bad Japanese accent!
[3] MR2 "Em -Err- Deux" or Merde, which more or less means sh*t!
I'll have to agree. This sounds like a "We're young and inexperienced" stupid mistake to make, yet Hyundai and Kia should know better than this, they aren't 'that' young in the automotive technology world any more.
If it can't be written off as "We're young and inexperienced", then the only reasonable conclusion one can come to is "We're lazy and stupid".
If it can't be written off as "We're young and inexperienced", then the only reasonable conclusion one can come to is "We're lazy and stupid".
I'd suggest something along the lines of, "We're greedy and since we don't have to put in countermeasures in the US, we won't. Nyah, nyah, neener neener!"
I've had two theft cases with my Corolla so far.
In both cases ne'er-do-wells forced the driver door to unlock with a tool (screwdriver) and did the same with the ignition.
In the first case, the car was recovered.
Second case the ne'er-do-well abandoned the attempt as the steering gear lock was preventing the use of the gears.
In both cases I had to buy new door locks and a new ignition lock module - luckily replacing these was a doddle, no reprogramming or anything needed.
I cannot afford the loss of this car, and dread the day it will get stolen.
Bah, ne'er-do-wells.
I remember helping someone in a motorway services carpark. A woman with two or three children aged from semi-civilised to toddler had dropped her key into the footwell getting out of her Escort, and then locked it on the latch. She was just in the process of calling a mechanic, but was getting ridiculous quotes for either price or ETA, and both she and the children were getting very agitated. I had the key for my playday Fiesta in my pocket. After a couple of basic checks that it was actually hers (mainly because the key was visible on the floor, and she could in theory have been a good opportunist), I offered to try the Fiesta key, which of course worked. She was delighted to be able to get the children in the car with a view to continuing the journey, but very concerned how easy it was to break in...
Request to company help desk. Colleague had locked herself out of her car, can we help?
Actually I have a Ford too, let's try my keys. Managed to open the boot, so she had to crawl over the seats, but she was in!
Call closed!
Before that my dad had a Ford escort popular I think. It started off with one key to open doors, boot and start it. First the boot lock failed - new lock and key, fortunately different colour so we could tell them apart. Ignition lock went - new lock and key, and (iirc) the driver door lock failed as well - you get the idea...
Fords in the 1980s had push-down locking buttons at the rear edge of the front door windows. A piece of that plastic band used on large parcels / pallets could be folded and pushed in through the door seal, then one ofthe two ends still outside pushed to open up a loop at the folded end. It could then be hooked over the locking button (which handily had a lumpy bit on the top which would stop it sliding off, and pulled upwards while maintaiing outward pressure, to unlock the door.
I diligently observed security on my 1983 Ford Capri until my friend’s Dad pointed out Ford locks didn’t deserve the name, and bade me unlock my car with a thin coin. Barely 2mm of the coin was in the key slot and could make it turn with hardly any force. I needed the key to start it though.
"the backwards driving position."
I wonder if that was about the same time the US military decided to sit people facing the back in transport planes[*] after research showed a better survival chance in a crash?
[*] the converted passenger planes rather than cargo-type planes.
14 crashes, not 14 hacks. 8 deaths from 14 accidents still makes it sound like a shockingly unsafe car being driven shockingly badly though.
Fun fact: After hitting a record low in the UK vehicle thefts starting rising again in 2017. The same year TikTok launched internationally. I'm not saying we should blame China for all British joy-riders but.. we should at least consider doing so.
Possibly a combination of two things.
1. People stealing cars probably aren’t wearing seat belts and adhering to speed limits, one way restrictions etc.
2. I wouldn’t be surprised to find the ignition bypass doesn’t arm the airbags, so when they do crash skull meets dash/windscreen and brain soup is on the menu.
"exposing a slot that fits a USB-A plug. Turning the plug activates its ignition, allowing thieves to drive away."
An ignition key with zero differs and widespread availability that can be turned without any warding? Rather than tampering with the software, maybe they should have fitted a proper lock and key.
Admittedly, the 1970s MZ motorcycle had a single universal ignition key, but it wasn't a commonplace item like a USB plug -- at least it was a proprietaty prod with a slot in it that had to fit a cross pin in the lock.
My old Ford Cortina was like that (hey - we were all young once! and it was pre-disastered by one of my brothers - he fitted a 2.0L block but didn't bother to change the 1.6L inlet/exhaust manifolds or change the carb.. still, it was cheap and (mostly) went in a straight line).
You could open the door locks with any key of approximately the right shape (or even a screwdriver of the right shape!) and ditto for the ignition. It got stolen once (from Arnos Green tube station) - the police found it at a local council estate - they reckoned that someone had just nicked it to drive home in the rain.
Even better, the miscreant had nicked the two SuperBrain computers I'd got in the boot - the laugh was on them because they were utterly non-functional and I'd already stripped them of anything useful but just hadn't got round to taking them to the tip.
I got rid of that Cortina when I'd had enough of having to carry around a selection of nuts of various sizes (stuff kept vibrating loose in the engine - including (several times) the water pump). The final straw was when the petrol tank started to leak..
Still, I got £50 for it -- which what I'd paid my brother for it in the first place.
In my 1966 Cortina automatic (purchased around 1973 for £80), it was the starter motor that kept rattling loose. When turning the ignition resulted in only a high-pitched whine and a lack of engine turning over noises, it was a case of up with the bonnet and out with the spanner yet again. Later on, something in the automatic gearing went screwy and it refused to go backwards ever again, making parking very "interesting". A lack of funds meant it stayed that way until it got scrapped.
I had a car with worn teeth on the flywheel and the starter motor, and they would meet tooth to tooth and jam in place.
I had to get put the car in gear, and push it to dislodge it, if that didn't work it was time to get underneath with the socket and loosen off the starter motor bolts.
It's taken Kia and Hyundai almost two years to get around to fixing this problem, (here's a report from May 2021). It got to the point where insurance companies in some US states were refusing to insure these cars, because they were too easy to steal.
To be fair, they did have a fix for it last year, but they were charging for it. Nice they're finally fixing their insecure product for free.
Back in the 1950s Chevrolet and other GM cars had a two position off setting on the ignition switch and a "collar" that covered part of the key. The first position allowed the key to be removed and locked the switch. The second position also allowed the removal of the key but did not lock the switch. What this meant is if you wanted to snatch a Chevy all you had to do was try to turn the collar. It it moved, good-bye car.
One failure is in the cars, stupidly allowing theft via trivial actions.
The other is TikTok; operating a platform where incitement to commit crimes or hurt yourself spreads with little apparent control is entirely irresponsible. (Yes, moderation of social media posts is a Really Difficult Problem, but that doesn't mean they're acting responsibly.)
One of my student colleagues in the early 1980s - who now holds a responsible position at a College in Cambridge - told me about some of the more disreputable members of her family. Apparently at some point there had been a challenge between them to find an implement with which it was not possible to break into a Ford Cortina. It was suggested that a banana might fit the bill. But nobody was sure.
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