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Kia & Hyundai To Update 8.3 Million Cars After Viral TikTok Trend Leads To Thefts & Deaths
Hyundai and Kia are upgrading the software of a combined 8.3 million cars after the viral Kia Challenge TikTok trend lead to multiple car thefts that in turn caused a reported 14 crashes and 8 deaths.
Hyundai and Kia are upgrading the software of a combined 8.3 million cars after the viral TikTok trend lead to multiple car thefts that in turn caused a reported 14 crashes and 8 deaths across the United States.
The free upgrades will be pushed to affected Hyundai and Kia cars and will update the anti-theft alarm system's software so that it will require motorists to ensure that the key is in the ignition switch when the vehicle needs to be started. The update also increases the time the alarm will stay on if an unauthorised person tries to steal the car from 30 seconds to a full minute.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of the United States has stated that the free update will available for 3.8 million Hyundai cars and 4.5 million Kia vehicles across the US.
Hyundai has already started rolling out the update to some of the affected cars. A million cars including the model year 2017-2020 Elantra and the model 2015-2019 Sonata sedans along with the model year 2020-2021 Venue compact SUVs have already started to receive this update. Other vehicles affected will all be updated by June 2023.
Speaking about the safety update, Randy Parker, CEO, Hyundai Motor America said, "Hyundai is committed to ensuring the quality and integrity of our products through continuous improvement and is pleased to provide affected customers with an additional theft deterrent through this software upgrade. We have prioritized the upgrade's availability for owners and lessees of our highest selling vehicles and those most targeted by thieves in order for dealers to service them first."
Kia, on the other hand, has started notifying affected owners about the free upgrade and will start rolling out the same in the next few months.
The update has been a long time coming considering the fact that the viral TikTok 'Kia Challenge' has been making the news for quite a few months now. The Kia Challenge took advantage of the lack of an immobilizer fitted to the affected cars and taught viewers how to hot-wire an affected Kia/Hyundai car with just a USB cable and a screwdriver.
Thoughts About Kia & Hyundai's Update
The Kia Challenge on TikTok showed just how vulnerable the affected cars were to carjackings and resulted in many thefts, crashes and deaths. Thankfully with Hyundai and Kia updating the vehicles to kill off this vulnerability, the madness of the Kia Challenge will finally come to an end.
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