Hyundai, Kia offers free software patch to prevent car theft

Hyundai and Kia are fixing a problem that made some of their vehicles easy to steal

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO)— Hyundai and Kia are fixing a problem that could prevent the vehicles from being easy to steal.

The vehicles are Hyundai’s and Kia’s made between 2015 and 2019 that have turn-key ignitions, not push button starts.

The vehicles with turn-key ignitions are roughly twice as likely to be stolen as other vehicles of a similar age.

The reason: many lack some of the basic auto theft prevention technology included in most other vehicles, according to data.

Hyundai and Kia have a fix—it’s a software patch—and it’s free for owners.