Hyundai, Kia Vehicles Lack of Immobilizers Class Action

Certain Hyundai and Kia vehicles have an unexpected defect, says the complaint for this class action, in that they were not manufactured to have immobilizers. The defect is not evident to consumers buying the vehicles, the complaint alleges, but it makes them easy to steal—so easy that YouTube and TikTok offer videos showing how to do it with a USB cable.

Five classes have been defined for this action:

• The Hyundai Nationwide Class is all persons and entities in the US who bought or leased a 2015-2022 Hyundai vehicle containing a turn-key ignition system in the US.
• The Kia Nationwide Class is all persons and entities in the US who bought or leased a 2011-2022 Kia vehicle containing a turn-key ignition system in the US.
• A Hyundai California Class, a Kia California Class, and a Hyundai Kansas Class have also been defined, for those who bought or leased a Hyundai or Kia class vehicle in the respective state.

The complaint defines an immobilizer this way: “An immobilizer contains an electronic chip embedded into a vehicle’s engine control unit that prevents the engine from functioning unless the electronic code from the key fob or smart key matches with it.”

The Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards requires that vehicles have a starting system that, if the key is removed, (1) keeps the vehicle’s engine or motor from activating and (2) prevents the steering or “forward self-mobility” of the vehicle.

Stolen cars are a danger on the roads, the complaint claims. It quotes the Federal Register as saying, in 1968, that “cars operated by unauthorized persons are far more likely to cause unreasonable risk of accident, personal injury, and death than those which are driven by authorized individuals.” Stolen vehicles are often used in committing crimes, driven recklessly, or crashed, the complaint says.

The complaint alleges that the vehicles are being stolen so often that insurance companies are either “raising premiums for Class Vehicle or refusing to insure them at all…”

According to the complaint, the companies have known about the problem with the vehicles for a long time but have not informed customers and have continued to sell them without warnings to consumers.

But that doesn’t mean the companies have not given the situation some thought. “Since learning of the crisis,” the complaint alleges, “Hyundai USA has also decided to profit from it, announcing that beginning October 1, 2022, it will make available—for purchase at an undisclosed price—‘security kits.’” So far, the complaint alleges, Kia does not seem to have planned any fixes for the problem.

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Automobile
Tags: Defective Automobile, Ignition or Starter System, Immobilizer