ST. LOUIS — Quite a few vehicles made by Kia and Hyundai sat in need of repair at St. Louis Auto & Truck Repair in St. Louis on Wednesday.
The owners of those vehicles will soon get some support from the automakers themselves against theft.
"We get about three or four Hyundais or Kias a week. With broken windows. Broken steering columns. Lots of expense to the insurance companies. It's inconvenient for the customers. Parts are on backorder,” Lisa Renaud, with the repair shop, said.
Within the last year, hundreds of Kias and Hyundai were stolen in St. Louis and the thieves who get behind the wheel used them to commit other crimes.
Some insurance companies stopped coverage on their vehicles because of the trend, spurred on by a TikTok trend publicizing how to steal cars last summer.
Earlier this week, the companies announced they would offer new free software that will make the cars more difficult to steal.
It will update the vehicle’s software to make the alarm stretch from 30 seconds to one minute and require the key to be in the ignition to turn the car on.
On Wednesday, Renaud told 5 On Your Side she has faith the new resources will work once thieves get the word.
"Once they learn that they are not going to be able to get away with it. It'll definitely solve the problem but until they realize those immobilizers are in there, they are going to keep breaking the steering columns, breaking the windows," she said.
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Kia and Hyundai have the most stolen cars in the United States currently.
Kia’s corporate office said that customers should expect letters soon about making an appointment to have the software installed.
“It's going to be something that's going to number one, give our customers peace of mind. But more importantly, also fight this national crime situation which has been so unfortunate,” James Bell, a spokesperson for the company, said.
Both Kia and Hyundai plan to roll out the software update later this month, with more stages in the next few months.
Hyundai also plans to offer car window stickers to alert thieves that the car has anti-theft protection.
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