Hyundai and Kia thefts soar more than 1000% since 2020

I’ve finally decided to trade in my Kia for a Subaru. I’m tired of the anxiety of coming out to an empty parking spot in the morning. Really stupid decision by them to not install immobilizers as standard on all vehicles, and very poor and slow response to the issue. Never buying a Hyundai/Kia again, which is too bad because their cars look great.

Same but don't know replacement vehicle will be, hoping to just not need the car with remote work. Received 3 recall notices for our SUV last year: anti theft Kia boyz, trailer-hitch-wiring-spontaneous-combustion-so-park-outside-until-we-issue-a-fix-that-is-still-pending, and a catastrophic engine failure replacement class action lawsuit that we had to use the recall for as the engine suddenly seized up and they fully replaced the engine.
I loved how they say "park away from structures" as if most people in cities have the luxury of doing that or may not even have the option to park somewhere other than an assigned or owned parking spot?
Spent last fall wondering whether our car would be stolen or spontaneously combust first. It was measurable constant anxiety for most of the year.
Full retard capitalism.
- Chrysler is not even recalling a lot of problems I see on their vehicles. I've had 3 Pacificas with loose LF axle nuts and no recalls There are other problems from their other vehicles too and no recalls. At mazda they recalled ridiculous stuff, like the corner edge of the rear door on top rubber seal was too sharp if it came loose, so we had to fill it with glue.
They do install immobilisers as standard?
Oh wait, just not in that one country that doesn't require it lol
- You can always count on corporations to do the right thing because of the profit motive, right? /s
  Honestly if there had not been this much fallout this quickly, you would have seen at least one other manufacturer do the same thing.
- Land of the Free Cars
Are you going to have to sell at a discount because of these issues? Couldn't you get an after market immobilizer installed?
- Even if they got an immobilizer, people might still try to break into them given their reputation for being easily stolen. At the very least, they'd have to worry about broken windows and messed up steering column stuff. It's probably a decent idea to sell and move on if they can afford to, although I'd personally go with another brand than Subaru.
- Basically what the the other guy said. The idiots stealing these cars won’t know that you installed one and will break your window and steering column anyway to try. Using a steering wheel lock is actually more effective because it’s a visual deterrent, and most of these thieves are out for a joyride only and won’t bother wasting time trying to break a steering wheel lock.
- But then there'd be no excuse to buy a new car

*While total car thefts remained about the same

“Meanwhile, the theft rate for all other makes of cars stayed about the same.“
FTFY
- No, that's the opposite of what I'm saying. Based on H1 data, there was only like a 2% overall increase.
  Though maybe that 2% is explained by this huge increase in Kia? That might be, that might be.

This is what happens when there is not regulation for this shit: some dumbshit MBA comes up with a bright idea to save $5/car by removing an "unnecessary" part that every other manufacturer has. The people higher up okay it because it increases short term profit and their payout. By the time things shit the bed, the executives that signed off on it already sold large shares when the stock price went up and the MBA dude is already a VP at another company. Rinse and repeat.

And they settle the lawsuit for about $22 per vehicle so its not even as if they lost anything. Just their customers loose.

Yeah my buddy and his wife just had a kid and then 2 days later someone stole her Kia. Quite a rollercoaster of a week for them.

Why do they keep fucking up in the US? Lol

Greed.
Part of the problem is lots of places in the US are no longer prosecuting theft. The police arrest them, the prosecutor gives them the listest possible bail, and they're immediately out again. This has caused police to not even bother. Why risk it when there's no real consequence?

https://archive.is/5ZnQp