Kia and Hyundai cars in South Africa immune to viral theft trend – Here’s why

Recently, Hyundai and its sub-brand Kia rolled out security updates to over eight million vehicles in various countries around the globe in response to a viral trend on popular video app TikTok showing viewers how to turn on these vehicles without a key in as little as 30 seconds, which led to a big surge in thefts.

Fortunately, Kia South Africa confirmed to TopAuto that there is a “very low likelihood” of these incidents happening locally thanks to the standard fitment of immobiliser systems for the past 25 years.

“Our internal investigations have shown that there is a very low likelihood of such thefts taking place in South Africa due to the IMMO [immobiliser] systems used in the Kia passenger vehicles sold in South Africa,” said the subsidiary.

“All Kia passenger vehicles imported into South Africa since 1998 are equipped with a factory-fitted immobiliser. These systems have evolved significantly over the years, and moreover, in the past 10+ years, our vehicles use the SMARTRA system that utilises an active rolling code system.”

The code rolling systems are linked to a transponder in the vehicle key and use a different “code” to unlock the vehicle every time, thus avoiding the possibility of a fixed code being copied by modern signal interference equipment and relayed to open the doors once the owner has left.

Hyundai South Africa also confirmed via telephone that its vehicles are unlikely to fall victim to this same tactic.

The domestic subsidiary sources its products from India, Indonesia, South Korea, and the Czech Republic, all of which install immobilisers, whereas in the United States – where the trend is the most prolific – the Hyundai vehicles are built at US factories where they do not always install the same anti-theft tech.

What’s being done

In the now-viral TikToks showing how to steal Hyundai/Kia vehicles, the videos are mostly focused on the action of starting the car and not entering it. As such, criminals must find their own way in, which generally involves a smashed window.

Once inside, the offenders break open the plastic casing on the steering column that houses the starter, remove a certain part, and use a standard USB cord matching the starter’s shape to confuse the electronics into thinking there’s a key in the ignition, after which the car can be started.

There are, of course, a few more steps involved, but for fear of being complicit in an attempted theft we can’t go into detail on the processes.

To remedy the situation, the manufacturer has now rolled out an update that doubles the time the alarm sounds and incorporated an “ignition kill” feature that requires owners to unlock the doors with a key before the ignition activates, reported The Verge.

The good news is “this software rollout will not take place in South Africa as our passenger vehicles are not affected,” said Kia South Africa.