Own a Hyundai in Austin? Get free anti-theft tech installed this weekend
As Austin continues seeing a significant rise in auto thefts — which follows a national trend spurred by a social media fad — the vehicle maker Hyundai is offering free anti-theft software installation to local owners of the most vulnerable vehicles this weekend.
The pop-up clinic is being held in the Burger Center's parking lot at 3200 Jones Road facing U.S. 290.
People who own a Hyundai made between 2011 and 2021 can visit the site between the following times this weekend:
8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday
8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday
Hyundai will also hand out free steering wheel locks to vehicle owners. The process should take about 20 minutes, said Dave VandeLinde, vice president of Hyundai Motor America.
Auto thefts shot up by 33% last year from 2022, according to data from the Austin Police Department. And the trend doesn't appear to be hitting the brakes, with 554 vehicles stolen in January, the only month with data available so far for this year. By comparison, there were 430 auto thefts in January 2023.
The uptick came after a TikTok trend known as the "Kia Challenge" in which people showed how to easily steal 2011-21 Hyundais and Kias using only a couple of tools.
Mike Earley, investigations commander for the Austin Police Department, said on Thursday that Kias and Hyundais make up about 9% of registered vehicles in Travis County. Between 2020 and 2022, those vehicles accounted for 5% to 7% of all stolen vehicles in Austin, but in 2023, Kias and Hyundais accounted for more than a third of stolen vehicles, Earley said.
He said most people stealing the Kias and Hyundais are juveniles who are "joyriding," but sometimes the stolen cars are used in "other serious crimes."
Earley said police are taking a three-pronged approach to curb the rise in thefts: educating people about which cars are being targeted and how to prevent them from being stolen; handing out steering wheel locks to Hyundai and Kia owners; and arresting the people who steal vehicles.
An analysis of 34 U.S. cities by the Council on Criminal Justice shows auto thefts were 29% higher on average last year than in 2022. Additionally, that analysis found that vehicle thefts were up by 105% on average since 2019 in those cities.
In Austin, auto thefts rose by 131% between 2019 and 2023, Police Department data show. But that rate varies among the 34 cities analyzed by the Council on Criminal Justice; the highest increase was in Washington, at 931%, while the lowest was in St. Paul, Minn., which saw a decrease in car thefts by 167% during the same period.
The vehicles most prone are the 2011-21 Hyundais that have a key ignition rather than push-button start. Those vehicles don't have an engine immobilizer, a piece of technology that won't allow a vehicle to start unless it detects the key made for that specific vehicle.
VandeLinde said Hyundai has been hosting these types of events in other cities across the country since July. While he didn't have any statistics, he said police have said anecdotally that auto thefts are going down in places where these clinics have been held.
In addition to the software solution, Hyundai will give out free steering wheel locks to any Hyundai owner, even if it's not a model that needs the software upgrade, at this weekend's event. Earley said Hyundai or Kia owners can visit any police substation or the main station and get a free steering wheel lock.
This weekend's clinic is only for Hyundai owners. Although the South Korean carmaker Hyundai is Kia's parent company, VandeLinde said the two companies have to be competitors because of U.S. anti-trust laws.
However, VandeLinde said if a Kia owner shows up, officials will "do their very best."
For people unable to attend this weekend, this upgrade technology is available for free at Hyundai dealerships, VandeLinde said.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Free anti-theft installation for Hyundai owners this weekend
