A series of upgrades made to Kia and Hyundai vehicles sold without immobilizers have helped reduce the widespread theft and vandalism owners have experienced for the last two years. They haven’t eliminated the risk, however, and new data shows just how often owners of impacted vehicles have had to deal with thieves.
There were many rumors that the UAW, which had endorsed President Joe Biden, wasn’t quite sure they wanted to stick by him. Did this lead to President Biden dropping out of the race? It’s unclear, but the UAW seems to be ready to enthusiastically back VP Kamala Harris, who is the presumptive nominee for the Democrats.
Solid-state batteries are supposed to be the next big thing, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t still companies out there just trying different chemistries. Also the next big thing? Flying taxis. Stellantis has paired up with a flying taxi company and is now pouring more money into the air taxi because Stellantis definitely needs more brands.
It’s Friday. Let’s have some fun.
The Kia Boyz Are Still At It
One of the strangest outcomes of the late pandemic period was the emergence of the Kia Boyz and their imitators. Presumably, someone had enough time on their hands to determine not only that a large number of Hyundai and Kia vehicles sold in America lacked an immobilizer anti-theft device, but also that the most common USB Type-A male plug could be used to easily steal any of these cars.
Add in the ability of social media to quickly transmit messages, and suddenly there was a nationwide wave of thefts of these specific vehicles. It was bad. And a new study from the Highway Lost Data Institute shows just how terrible a time it was.
The chart below shows the frequency of claims for theft/vandalism for the last few years, displayed as how many claims were made per 1,000 vehicles. To make the data more accurate, the HLDI narrowed it to the model years that correspond with impacted Kia/Hyundai vehicles.
As you can, there was a rise in car thefts during this period, going up to almost three claims per 1,000 vehicles. However, this could have easily been because of just how many Kias and Hyundais were stolen. Look at this:
At one point last year, more than 15-per-1000 were getting hit, which is more than 1-per-100. That’s a lot of cars. Ok, to make it more helpful, the HLDI narrowed it down to the VINs that Kia and Hyundai said were the most at risk:
Yikes! At one point this shows more than 3 cars out of every 100! And this was after the problem was already identified and fixes were going out to customers.
Some of the fixes, admittedly, weren’t great. They sent my dad a Club knockoff for his Kia Soul, and then a window sticker. This was hell for Kia and Hyundai owners who had to worry both about thefts and about losing their insurance.
The data only goes until the end of 2023, and you can see that thefts, while dropping, are still way higher than other vehicles.
It’s Friday, do you want some good news? Here’s some good news. If you have a vehicle that qualifies for a software update and you make the upgrade, your life is going to get a lot easier.
From the HLDI:
Roughly two dozen 2011-22 Hyundai and Kia models are eligible for the upgrade. Those vehicles that received it as of December 2023 — a total of 30% of the eligible Hyundais and 28% of the eligible Kias in HLDI’s database — had theft claim frequencies that were 53% lower than vehicles that didn’t get the upgrade.
Those claims aren’t all for thefts of the entire vehicle. They also include claims for damage to vehicles that were stolen and recovered, theft of vehicle parts and items stolen from inside the vehicle. The frequency of whole vehicle theft, which HLDI calculates by matching the cost of the claim to the amount insurers pay for the same model if it’s totaled in a crash, fell by a larger 64% for vehicles with the upgrade.
“The companies’ solution is extremely effective,” said Matt Moore, senior vice president of HLDI. “If you own a Hyundai or Kia vehicle without an electronic immobilizer, you should call your local dealer about getting the software upgrade today.”
If you can do it, do it. Do it now. Moore said that “[W]e expect claim rates for Hyundai and Kia vehicles to gradually drop back in line with those of other brands, as thieves learn they’re no longer so easy to steal and the fad gets stale”
The idea of stealing certain cars being a fad is terrifying.
UAW Backs Harris And Walz On Michigan Trip
While it feels like ten months ago, it was actually only a few weeks ago that we had a presidential debate between former President Trump and current President Biden that, in retrospect, was terrible for everyone. President Trump lost his favorite sparring partner and President Biden, due in part to just staring off into space with the same look I give every time David says a reference to the TV show “Seinfeld” is too niche, had to drop out.
How much of that was because groups like the United Auto Workers were starting to get cold feet? How much if it was former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi? I’m sure a book will come out and tell us at some point. In the interim, the UAW has come out swinging for VP Harris, including at a big event yesterday in Michigan.
What does the UAW think they’re going to get out of a Harris presidency?
“We just want fairness,” Harris told United Auto Workers packed inside the United Auto Workers Local 900 hall in Wayne. “We want dignity for all people. We want to recognize the pride all people have to freedom and liberty, to make choices, especially those that are about heart and home and not have their government telling them what to do.”
Championing collective bargaining, she added: “We believe in the collective. We’re not falling for these folks who are trying to divide us trying to separate us, trying to pull us apart. That’s not where the strength lies.”
Former President Trump gave a press conference from his resort in Florida and said that, while he doesn’t have the UAW’s support, he does have the “full-throated” support of Tesla CEO Elon Musk:
“He’s very worried about the country… And I don’t know if it’s good for him politically to have supported me, although I think we have a vast majority of this country does support me, but Elon, more than almost anybody I know.”
Musk should help Trump carry the pivotal demographic of people with blue checkmarks on X who try to determine if Olympic athletes are really men.
Ok, But What If Solid-State Tech Doesn’t Work?
People are excited about the prospect of solid-state batteries, which are expected to be easier to produce and have longer range.
But what if that doesn’t work or takes too long to commercialize? In the interim, a lot of companies are looking at chemistries that aren’t the two dominant types (NCM or LFP).
Automotive News has a good roundup of what alternatives are out there, including Sodium Ion, Lithium Sulfur. and most intriguingly to me, Lithium Manganese Iron Phosphate:
Manganese, iron and phosphate are generally affordable and available, Plante Moran said. This chemistry blends the best of nickel cobalt manganese cells with the best of lithium iron phosphate cells, said Nathan Niese, global lead for electric vehicles and energy storage at Boston Consulting Group. The lifespan is shorter than a lithium iron phosphate cell, but energy density is higher, he said.
I’m still a big LFP fan, but an LFP-like cell with more density could be interesting.
Stellantis To Give More Money To Archer Aviation
There are a few car companies out there that are interested in mobility that goes beyond just cars, and that includes flying taxis or air taxis. Hyundai invested in Supernal and Stellantis has put a lot of money into California-based Archer Aviation.
According to Reuters, the company plans to put even more dough into the company:
Archer Aviation on Thursday announced an agreement-in-principle with Stellantis under which the automaker would bear up to $370 million of labor-related costs to support a planned ramp-up of the air-taxi maker’s aircraft.
The funding will give Archer access to much-needed capital to fund the production of its flagship ‘Midnight’ aircraft to 650 units annually. The company had cash and cash equivalents of $360.4 million at the end of June.
As Reuters points out, these stocks have been less hot lately, but Stellantis still seems to be into it. I mean, what’s more likely: Flying taxis or Fiat selling 200,000 cars in the United States in a year?
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
Neko Case is, and will always be, the best. Absolutely the best. Here’s her beautiful and plaintive “I Wish I Was The Moon.” Damn.
The Big Question
Have you done a road trip this summer? Do you have one planned? Where are you going or where did you go?
My road trip this summer was the long drive down from upstate NY to Nashville TN for my honeymoon. We both found out our collective limits for driving is about 10 hours in a day. Never again will we try to long haul any trip like that.
I did get to drag my wife to the Lane Motor Museum. I thought she would be bored to tears but their micro car exhibit had her asking me if there were any car shows for them near us and had her looking up prices on classic Minis.
We both also underestimated how much of the city revolves around drinking and partying. We spent most of our time in museums and deciding which place we should eat at.
SWERVO!!!
You should watch this interview regarding sodium ion batteries. This tech might be closer to mainstream than Lithium ion, and it might finally bring the prices down on EVs to the point they could/would rival gas powered alternatives.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRAJSH_raW8
Just for comparison, Toyota has partnered with Joby Aviation and their eVTOL aircraft.
30% of the eligible Hyundais and 28% of the eligible Kias in HLDI’s database.
It’s amazing how few of my fellow Sonata owners where I’ve roamed have bothered to get the security update, but H/K owners aren’t exactly known for ensuring basic maintenance is performed on their vehicles. It’s little surprise such a small percentage of them have taken advantage despite all the widespread publicity.
Flared base, check. TOYOTA, WHY ARE YOU POSTING BUTT PLUGS ON YOUR MEDIA SITE??? Save that for OnlyPrii, sheesh.
Flush: You missed the Oppo Rally! The Oppo Rally was great. It was around the Finger Lakes, which rule. I ate a lot of cheese!
I also rented an ’84 Targa to goof around in for my high school reunion. I drove up a mountain in the Olympic National Park and took it on a ferry. It ruled. 10/10, A+, five out of five stars, every car of the year pick that doesn’t list a vintage aircooled Porsche as the winner is wrong.
We hope to go to Beaufort SC and NC, then up to the northern terminus of the Skyline Drive through the entire Blue Ridge Parkway in a month from now, hurricanes depending.
Was planning to visit my nephew in Philly soon, but my eldest aunt just had a bad fall, so I’m holding off not knowing whether I’ll need my pto if her recovery doesn’t go well.
Family is more important than a museum of medical oddities
Sorry to hear about your son, but I hope you do get to go to the Mutter museum at some point – really cool place!
Last March my wife and I made a road trip to Nashville for the Lane Motor Museum. Totally worth it. Haven’t been anywhere since. It’s just too damned hot. Am I the only immature goof who laughed at “full throated support?”
I didn’t originally, but now that you mention it out of context…bwahahahahahahahahahaaaaaa!
I went to the Lane this past May, it was a lovely way to spend the day. I even got to see them fire up the Helicron right on the floor.
On the road to visit family in Connecticut with a bonus stop at The Museum of Bus Transportation in Hershey PA.
I have not visited the Jalopnik site once in over a month due to politically charged over and undertones. Never will again, as opinions are like ass holes, everyone has one and they all stink. Jalopnik is full of ass holes. Not sure why everyone has to pepper in their fucking view on everything all the time. Just saying as a paying subscriber, we want car news. Your site is an escape from the never ending bidenharristrumpwalzfainvance fuckfaces. Or at least it should be.
The Morning Dump is an automotive- and auto-industry news feature.
The UAW’s presidential endorsement is auto-industry news.
Elsewhere on the site David “Shower Spaghetti” Tracy wrote an amazing piece, with video, about going to a very fancy ball in his very unfancy 30-year-old Chrysler minivan, with zero politics (unless you count Autopian internal office politics).
Oh no! The news has news in it!
{ clutches pearls }
I have just about stopped looking at TTAC due to the right-wing trolls and off-topic comics, along with its lack of automotive content.
No one requires you to read the Autopian, so if it’s not your cup of tea, just move on. I agree about how annoying political opinions and arguments can be, but it’s not as bad here as on many other sites.
A-Z Comics is a good way to spend some online reading. It’s like having a Sunday color comics section every day, and with many more choices.
The UAW coverage is car news. The A in UAW stands for Auto.
No summer road trip for me this year. Probably not next year as we have a wedding in the family in the summer which is a 4,500 mile round trip if by car. Just not gonna happen.
“Musk should help Trump carry the pivotal demographic of people with blue checkmarks on X who try to determine if Olympic athletes are really men.”
Jalopnik much?
Hey, truth hurts sometimes.
If you can’t appreciate the humor in that line, I feel sorry for you. It gave me my first laugh of the morning.
Just returned from a week long road trip to Long Island and Manhattan. Good times were had. Unless magical chemistry is discovered, I suspect no huge gains in energy density are to be had anytime soon. Good on the UAW. Who cares what the orange bloaviatumus and his weirder friend has to say. KIA/hyundai, just say no. Neko Case is a hidden gem. Stellantis would likely get a hugher ROR should it invest in those sand display units or whatever they are….
I mean, solid state batteries are no longer science fiction. They do work and they have already been commercialized. You can buy products using solid state batteries on Amazon, and not weird scam drop-shipped products either. Legit companies making legit things. https://www.amazon.com/Yoshino-Solid-State-B660-SST-Generator/dp/B0CPPM89NZ
Making consumer battery power stations is one thing, and car batteries is something else, but it truly is an incremental step to get to “just make it bigger and in the correct format” rather than anything revolutionary.
We’re going to start seeing these in cars in the next 3-6 years as new product life-cycles kick off. Again, not because of hopeful prognostication, but because they are real and exist and are demonstrably better.
That item you linked has some controversy around it and whether it’s actually solid state, it appears that its not.
https://youtu.be/z8sVbwitrB0?si=UYghuaZalXEdCAZG
Welp, JaredTheGeek, you have definitely convinced me. Seems like Yoshino is a bunch of lying liars. I walk back my most sensationalist statements, but I legitimately think we’ll hit viable solid state batteries very soon.
QuantumScape is currently shipping test batteries to OEMs, Samsung thinks they’ve cracked the code, Toyota thinks it will be shipping test packs soon and commercializing by ’27.
QuantumScape and the other newbies are one thing, but if giants like Toyota and Samsung legit think they have it figured out, i tend to believe them. I may not believe their timelines, but i tend to believe that they have the underlying chemistry and production roadmap figured out.
If that thing really has a solid state battery in it, I’ll eat my boots.
Road trip? Hell, I ain’t even been on anything with a semblance of vacation since March and that was boinked half way through. Before that it was a boinked Thanksgiving. At least my father is in a memory care place where the amount of damage, chaos and general discontent he can rain down is restricted. Now I just need to catch a break from all the other bad luck.
I’m sorry, but I’m just a little raw from it all. Guess it’s better that I didn’t try a road trip. Would have probably ended up like @Ben stuck in the middle of Nowhere, SD with a broken Stellantis product.
This summer I made my 1st road trip in a rental Kia EV6. A fairly short trip from Chicago to Detroit. As an EV newbie it wasn’t fun, but the learning curve was rather quick so the way back was about half an hour quicker (but still half an hour slower than with a gas vehicle that wouldn’t need refueling to get there).
WTF is going on at Stellantis? Investing in a flying taxi company? It’s like they looked at the absurd investments people are making in AVs and said, “Hold my beer.”
I tried to go on a road trip this summer. It was a comedy of errors. Things that went poorly, in approximately chronological order:
Called the dealer on Monday and because they’re a tiny operation they have exactly one tech, who is booked out for the next couple of weeks. The fix is not trivial either (apparently requires dropping the transmission) so it’s going to be a while before I get it back.
So yeah, my planned 9 day road trip lasted 2 and mostly consisted of me broken down on the side of the road.
You might want to hide out in Hell/Alabama until this whole curse thing blows over. You didn’t happen to trap any malign spirits in the truck did you? Maybe the ghost of a mechanic’s unhappy wife, or a primordial, angry god? Poseidon comes to mind in particular.
Zeus made many promises to the Greeks, but never deigned to say exactly when he’d fulfill them. Just saying.
Seriously. Last night was supposed to be last day of the trip, and when I sat down to dinner I couldn’t swallow. Ended up in the ER to get that taken care of. Fortunately it was nothing serious and apparently not that uncommon, but I’m hoping that satisfied whatever higher power I pissed off.
Best offer a perfect hecatomb and pour libations when you get back, just to sure. Glad you’re oka- well, alive and not permanently harmed, at least.
On the bright side I have an excuse to eat ice cream for dinner the next couple of days. 😉
Damn. Just, damn.
Sure hope things start going better for you. Meantime, you should consider adding this to the Road Trip From Hell portion of the Car Talk website. Pretty sure it qualifies!
My only road trip this Summer was helping a friend move a handful of cars from Oshkosh metro to Detroit metro over the UP (because some cars couldn’t maintain highway speed or keep up with traffic through Chicago). I was saddled with a Triumph Spitfire that was, surprisingly, the most reliable of the fleet, and the only one with a working fuel gauge. At half-tank, it was my job to phone ahead to the nav car and get them to find a gas station. I was also one of 2 people who would push-start the Type 3 after fueling.
Beautiful drive in a beautiful but ergonomically murderous car, the seat foam was shaped such that my sternum and navel seemed to be pointing at each other most of the drive and the gas pedal was where most other cars would have a clutch, while the brake and clutch occupied the space normally reserved for the dead pedal. Its absence was particularly inconvenient because the aforementioned bowl-shaped seat was constantly trying to pour my ass out onto the floorboard.
I found a happy medium by hooking my arm over the door and hanging on like the edge of a pool. That kept me afloat, though a few bugs exploded on my forearm, as well as many pebbles that had a less pleasant effect. My left arm had turned to saddle leather by the time the sun went down, and my spine was tied into a very coquette bow when we went through Flint at 1 in the morning. Good times.
Went on a camping trip 3 hours away and just finished another 90 minutes away. Towed my little Aliner with my Model Y. Sure enough, energy use was about 450 watt-hours per mile with tow mirrors, air conditioning and cruise set at 65 mph. Charging was not an issue. On the longer trip we stopped once to fast charge going out and coming back. I didn’t need to do any fast charging on the shorter trip. Campsite electricity and a mobile charger took care of the needs. The later trip had an unexpected NEMA 14-50 plug, which really helped. Naturally the breaker tripped at 25 amps because campsite electric service isn’t set up for that sort of load. It was fine at 15 amps.
In two trips, I learned that DC fast charging with a trailer currently takes more steps than going without. On a smaller trailer dropping it isn’t a big production like a larger trailer. Campsite electric service is nowhere near as capable as the nameplate rating. Lastly, EV’s make for fine tow vehicles if the infrastructure is there to support them and the campers are able to live with the frequent charging stops.
Ever given a cat a bath? That’s what driving a Tesla MY off a discernable road is like, minus the scratches. Constant dings and beeps along with lots of objects rendered in orange and red with a flashing “stop” message displayed on screen. No, driving over this smooth grass won’t hurt anything. The “off road” mode quieted down a lot of the beeping but didn’t do anything about the screen. Whatever, it did fine despite the computers having a collective freakout.
Got home Monday night from a 10-day road trip from Milwaukee to Yellowstone National Park and back; took the Sienna pulling the popup camper. The Sienna did great; not as much engine braking in the mountains as I hoped but enough so I didn’t have any brake fade. And the MPG stayed 20-25 the whole trip, which is better than my old Grand Caravan which struggled to break 20 whenever I towed. Yay hybrid technology!
Highly recommend the Spam Museum in Austin, MN. My wife and kids hate it when I cook it at home and won’t eat it, but they all tried some at the museum and said it was much better than they expected. Plus the museum is fun, interactive, and FREE!!
H/K should offer some kind of owner loyalty/trade assistance offer for existing owners. The whole brand image is being affected, even if it’s not a directly affected model. A $50k Palisade or Telluride owner can’t be too amused by the association.
They do this occasionally, on some models; in my area there’s an owner loyalty rebate of varying value on select Kias. But make it universal, and figure out how to allow it between brands so someone can move between them, since they aren’t like a Chevy-GMC deal with rebates and warranty work. Either throw an extra dollar amount off to any current owner or do a % extra allowed on trade that they’ll reimburse the dealer for (maybe riskier as it depends on some consistent trade values and dealers can still pull some trickery).
Flip a potentially aggravated owner into a new car and keep them from defecting, stimulate some new sales in the process…which are down at Kia YTD and only nominally up at Hyundai, where others like Honda and Toyota are up.
“If you own a Hyundai or Kia vehicle without an electronic immobilizer, you should call your local dealer about getting the software upgrade today.”
Oh that’s a good one! I own one of the affected Hyundai models and when the software upgrade was announced, I visited the local dealer for an appointment. They were backed up THIRTEEN WEEKS before they would give me an appointment.
As for insurance… I’m looking to dump my Hyundai (at a huge loss) because the insurance costs more than it would for a 2019 Toyota.
Getting ready to make an 8 hour drive to a lake in Tennessee. Taking my 85 C10 towing my boat. I made it last year but did cook my brakes on the way to the launch ramp through the mountain back roads. I went to stop in the parking lot, put my foot all the way to the floor and the truck and trailer kept coasting.
This year I have made big improvements including tripling the amount of power the truck has but the brakes remain mostly untouched. I’m sure it will be fine.
On a positive note I got the AC working with the new motor this week so I’ll be nice and cool as I experience brake failure.
Which lake in TN?
How does tripling the power but doing nothing to the brakes help the braking situation?