Major insurance carriers plan to drop coverage of two car models due to spike in thefts – Law Officer

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IHHS), and Highway Loss Data Institute reported in September 2022 that vehicle theft claims for 2015-19 Kia and Hyundai automobiles were nearly twice as common as the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat, Fox Business reported.

“Car theft spiked during the pandemic,” HLDI Senior Vice President Matt Moore said in the report. “These numbers tell us that some vehicles may be targeted because they’re fast or worth a lot of money, and others because they’re easy to steal.”

The Kia and Hyundai vehicles being stolen also lack electronic immobilizers that can hinder a thief’s ability to steal a car from just breaking into the vehicle and bypassing the ignition, according to the report.

“Our earlier studies show that vehicle theft losses plunged after immobilizers were introduced,” said Moore. “Unfortunately, Hyundai and Kia have lagged behind other automakers in making them standard equipment.”

When the auto manufacturers added the immobilizers to the automobiles, vehicle thefts of Kias and Hyundais “plunged,” Moore said.

Only 26 percent of Kia and Hyundai vehicle models in 2015 had the immobilizers, while it was standard in 96 percent of all other manufacturers, the IHHS report noted.

In some cities, Kia and Hyundai auto thefts have spiked as high as 300 percent over the past two years, according to Fox Business.

Videos posted on social media showing would-be thieves how to start the vehicles by using the tip of a phone charger or USB cable have been hurtful. Without the need for a key, juveniles across the U.S. learning from these videos have been taking vehicles for joyrides.

It was unclear if other insurance carriers will also drop coverage for the same vehicles.