Is your Hyundai a theft risk? Here’s how to get free software upgrade, wheel lock in Tacoma
Are you worried about your Hyundai going on a joy ride without you? Technicians from the Korean car maker will be at the Tacoma Dome this weekend to offer anti-theft software upgrades, ignition protectors and wheel locks.
All of it, including the snack- and drink-filled heated waiting lounge, is free.
The effort is occurring across the Puget Sound this weekend, a mea culpa of sorts for the rash of thefts that Hyundai and Kia cars have undergone since 2021.
It’s a criminal element that has been stealing the cars, often using them to commit other crimes. Sometimes calling themselves the Kia Boyz, they’ve caused mayhem across the region.
Hyundai has long admitted that its software made the cars more vulnerable to theft compared with other makes.
When social media platform TikTok began showing how-to videos on stealing the cars in 2021, thefts of the cars sky rocketed. In Puget Sound, car theft shot up nearly 90 percent in recent years, according to Kitsap County Sheriff John Gese. Only some of that can be attributed to Hyundais and Kias, he said.
“We’ve seen extraordinary increases in thefts of stolen cars the last few years,” Gese said. “The theft of someone’s car or truck is not as some would think just a minor property crime.”
A stolen car deprives a victim of transportation to work, day care and school, he said.
“It can have devastating effects on one’s finances, and their sense of security and well being,” Gese said.
Clinics
On Thursday, crews were setting up a tent for the Friday through Sunday clinics in the Tacoma Dome parking lot. It will be open to owners of 2011-2022 Hyundai models. Similar clinics are being held in Bellevue and Edmonds.
On Saturday, a clinic will be held at Larson’s Hyundai at 7601 South Tacoma Way in Tacoma. No appointment will be necessary.
At the Dome, as drivers wait in a heated tent, technicians will upgrade car software. Couches, snacks and drinks will be available for drivers while the approximately 30-minute-long fixes are made.
For a few models that can’t take the software fix, a magnesium alloy ignition collar will be installed, according to Dave VandeLinde, a Hyundai vice president. The collar can’t be removed once installed.
Societal cost
Tacoma Police Chief Avery Moore Moore urged Hyundai owners to help themselves and society at large by taking advantage of the event. In August, Tacoma Police detective Jason Brooks, who was then working for the Puget Sound Auto Theft Task Force, was shot in the shoulder while pursuing auto theft suspects.
“He’s been dedicated to policing for over 20 years,” Moore said of Brooks. “And that day, that event changed his life forever.”
Brooks was completing paperwork for two stolen vehicles found in a Tacoma apartment complex in his unmarked car on Aug. 23 when a stolen 2017 Hyundai began spinning its tires in a roadway that goes through the complex. The teenage occupants fled, and one allegedly shot the detective while Brooks was still in his own vehicle.
The teen was charged with the attempted murder of Brooks and has a hearing April 8 to determine if he’ll be prosecuted as an adult or juvenile.
In December, a boy who fled a stolen Kia in Lakewood drowned in a nearby wetland.
Insurance and other headaches
Hyundai and Kia owners haven’t just had to deal just with the thefts and worry that their car might be next. They also have to pay higher insurance rates. Some haven’t been able to get insurance at all.
At Thursday’s press conference, VandeLinde said Hyundai has partnered with AAA to offer insurance for affected customers.
Stickers will be affixed to upgraded cars, he said, which hopefully will deter Kia Boyz and other thieves from breaking windows and attempting to start the vehicles.
Demo
On Thursday, VandeLinde demonstrated how a simple device plugged into each car’s software port will provide the upgrade. He said it’s taken the company years to write the software upgrades, which differ for every model and every trim package of those models.
The upgrades began just over a year ago, VandeLinde said, with more than 1 million upgrades performed so far.
Hyundai, he said, has been developing relationships with police departments across the country to address the thefts. Until the software became available, that usually meant steering-wheel lock giveaways.
“We realize that the increase in vehicle thefts strains communities and the police departments alike,” he said.
VandeLinde said his full time job for the past year has been traveling around the country, supervising similar clinics.
Anti-theft Clinic
For: Hyundai car owners, 2011-2022 model years with key turn starters.
What: Free installation of upgraded software or key ignition protector. Free wheel lock.
When: 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday
Where: Tacoma Dome parking lot adjacent near upper entrance to America’s Car Museum
Appointment: Not needed
Cost: Free
Traffic note: Singer Blake Shelton is performing Saturday at the Tacoma Dome.
