After a rash of stolen cars, Hyundai and Kia's new anti-theft software is showing results

More than a year after Hyundai and Kia released new anti-theft software updates, thefts of vehicles with the new software are falling. The automakers released the updates starting last February, after a tenfold increase in thefts of certain Hyundai and Kia models in just the past three years. Theft claims for the loss of the entire vehicle are 64% lower among the Hyundai and Kia cars that have had the software upgrade, compared to cars of the same make, model, and year without the upgrade, according to an analysis of insurance claim data. These vehicles, made before 2023, were particularly vulnerable to theft due to turn-key ignitions and lack of certain auto-theft prevention tech. Between early 2020 and the first half of 2023, thefts of Hyundai and Kia models rose over 1,000%. As part of a settlement, Hyundai and Kia began offering free anti-theft software upgrades for some of these older models in February 2023, resulting in over 2 million vehicles receiving the update. However, even with the new software, these older Hyundai and Kia vehicles are still stolen and broken into more often than others. One reason may be that owners aren’t using the vehicles’ new security software correctly. Despite this, it is expected that theft rates will decline as more vehicles get the security software and the fad of stealing these vehicles diminishes.