Cars From Hyundai And Kia Most Stolen In The US In 2023
JAKARTA - The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) released a list of the most stolen cars in the United States (US) throughout 2023. Three models from Hyundai and Kia dominate the list.
"This rating highlights the threat of constant vehicle theft across the country," NICB president and CEO David J Glawe said, as reported by CarBuzz, Wednesday, May 15.
Hyundai Elantra occupies the top position with 48,445 theft cases, followed by Hyundai Sonata with 42,813 cases. In third place is Kia Optima or K5 with 30,204 cases.
Although the number of thefts in the Elantra model is very high, this has not been able to shake Chevrolet Silverado from its position as the most stolen vehicle in the US by 2022, with 49,903 cases of theft.
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In the middle of last year, the US public was shocked by the actions of a teenager from Texas who stole Kia and Hyundai's cars. The teenager used the knowledge of the video on the TikTok app to commit theft. The stolen cars do not have an engine immunizer, a state-of-the-art feature that exists in the latest output car and is considered safer. Immobileizer ensures the engine turns off if it is forced on or with an unauthorized ignition key, even though the key has the same pattern as the original one.
Due to this incident, several cities have threatened or filed lawsuits against Hyundai and Kia over the ease of their stolen cars. Several insurance companies have also confirmed that they will not cover the affected models.
In response, Hyundai offers free anti-stealing software updates to prevent car theft. Hyundai provides a mobile service center in Washington, DC, and hopes to increase the amount of this software installation so that more vehicles are protected from theft in the future.
Kia also does the same as installing the latest software for free. For vehicle owners who do not meet the requirements, Kia offers a free safety steering wheel key. This update is claimed to limit vehicle execution system operations and takes only 30 minutes to install.