Woman Buys Hyundai. Then Someone Tries To Steal It: ‘I Can’t Believe They Bothered Even Making Keys For This Car’

'Mine got stolen 3 times in one year.'

Photo by: Unsplash.com

By: Stacy Fernandez

May 1, at 4:00pm ET

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When you buy a car, you assume a certain baseline level of security comes with it. The idea that someone could walk up and drive it away without having to worry about getting past a solid security system isn't even a thought that crosses your mind. It's a car, not a bicycle.

But many Hyundai owners are finding out the hard way that their cars aren’t all that secure. The brand became so well-known as a target that it spawned a viral theft trend.

One owner's recent near-miss is a reminder of how unsettling it is to have such a valuable possession be so vulnerable to theft.

Hyundai Theft Fail

In a TikTok with more than 288,000 views, content creator Victoria Roberts (@victoriaroberts) shares how she went down a rabbit hole after an unfortunate experience.

"Someone tried to steal my Hyundai and failed, thank god for that," she says in the video. "But I've always heard Hyundais are like really easy to steal, but I thought it would still require, like, some degree of talent or skill, you know? Because it is stealing a car, and I feel like not anybody could just go steal a car."

Out of curiosity, she looked up how to steal a Hyundai.

"I cannot believe they even bothered making keys for this car," she says.

"Spoiler alert it looks like maybe one of the easiest things you could possibly do,” she said in the caption.

How Did Hyundai's Theft Problem Get So Bad?

It started in Milwaukee in 2022, when a group calling themselves the Kia Boys posted a TikTok showing exactly how to steal a Kia or Hyundai, no special tools required, Capital One Auto Navigator reported.

The so-called Kia Challenge took off on TikTok, and a YouTube documentary called Kia Boys racked up millions of views.

The root cause was a missing anti-theft device called an "immobilizer," which is standard on most modern vehicles but was omitted from many Hyundai and Kia models built between 2011 and 2021.

Without it, anyone who knew the trick could start the car without a matching key. Models with push-button start were equipped with immobilizers and weren't vulnerable. The ones with keyed ignitions were.

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Hyundai and Kia eventually offered steering wheel locks to police departments for distribution to affected owners and announced a software patch, but, as Vice reported, some 2011–2022 model-year vehicles couldn't even accommodate the update.

For owners of those cars, the options were limited: pay $170 for a security kit, buy your own brake pedal lock, or hope for the best.

Lawsuits Against Hyundai And Kia

According to Car and Driver, Hyundai and Kia agreed to a settlement covering roughly 9 million vehicles, with up to $145 million set aside specifically for customers' out-of-pocket losses, including stolen cars, insurance deductibles, higher premiums, and other theft-related expenses.

Owners of eligible vehicles who joined the settlement would also get the free software update automatically installed at their next dealer visit. If the software couldn't be installed on their vehicle, they'd get up to $300 toward an anti-theft device of their choice.

The affected model list is long, spanning more than a decade of production across both brands, including the Elantra, Sonata, Tucson, Santa Fe, Kona, and Venue on the Hyundai side, and the Forte, Soul, Sportage, Sorento, and Rio on the Kia side, among others. Most of the vulnerable versions were base trims with keyed ignitions rather than push-button start.