9 Million Cars
Hyundai and Kia have agreed to compensate victims in a class-action lawsuit against the two Korean automakers over vehicle thefts in the United States.
Hyundai and Kia announced on Nov. 18 (local time) that they reached an agreement to settle the class action lawsuit and expected to pay a total of 200 million won (about US$270 billion) in insurance and cash compensations.
Since last year, videos of teenagers stealing old Hyundai and Kia cars have been going around on social media services in the United States. The reason why they chose to steal Hyundai and Kia cars was that Hyundai and Kia cars were relatively easy to steal because they did not have immobilizers, a security enhancement device. The teenagers mainly targeted Hyundai’s and Kia’s base trim models produced before November 2021.
Hyundai and Kia will support their cars’ security devices through software updates, while owners of some vehicles that cannot receive the software updates will be given cash of up to US$300 to purchase the security devices.
The two carmakers said that about 9 million cars will be covered by the settlement.