Kias and Hyundais targeted by latest social media challenge

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - A concerning social media challenge could be targeting your vehicle.

If you drive a Kia or Hyundai, a design flaw is making it easier for criminals to steal them. Criminals are breaking in, opening up the steering wheel column and in a way hot wiring the vehicle by simply using a USB cable.

We aren’t going to be more specific than that, but unfortunately there are plenty of videos and tutorials online that are teaching younger kids how to steal the cars.

Thankfully at the moment, this is not a problem in the Birmingham area.

“I haven’t seen it in our area but there was some stuff floating around on Tik Tok about that. Kind of like people using clone keys, but we haven’t seen an influx of that here,” said Birmingham Police Sergeant Monica Law.

Now this is only possible on the newer models that still require a key insert to start.

Hyundai has created a security kit you can add to your vehicle. It starts around one hundred and seventy dollars. At the moment there isn’t any kit available for Kia owners.

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