And you thought Mitsubishi dealerships were bad!

[AtomicPunk]

Check out this story in Hyundai dealers trying to profit off of the Huyndai/Kia theft fix. Not exactly generating good publicity for the brand!

https://jalopnik.com/the-hyundai-kia...ink-1849653867

[7milesout]

Well, first of all, I don't think the dealers are lying about this immobilizer thing at this time. They're just all staffed with dumb idiot morons who are stupid. That is the type of worker that all OEM dealerships look for. Give you an IQ test, if you score too high, out the door you go. The lying takes place later, when they actually do work on a car.

[AtomicPunk]

Well, first of all, I don't think the dealers are lying about this immobilizer thing at this time. They're just all staffed with dumb idiot morons who are stupid. That is the type of worker that all OEM dealerships look for. Give you an IQ test, if you score too high, out the door you go. The lying takes place later, when they actually do work on a car.

Then, if you're REALLY good at lying, they move you to sales.

[jbarr]

Is the club still a thing? That's what I would do.

[AtomicPunk]

Is the club still a thing? That's what I would do.

As I recall, theives would drill out the lock, or hacksaw the steering wheel and slide it off.

[jbarr]

The *******s! I guess the trick is to use the club and park next to another kia that isn't fixed.

[Cobrajet]

As I recall, theives would drill out the lock, or hacksaw the steering wheel and slide it off.

Yep. The Club can be removed in about 30 seconds by taking a hacksaw to the steering wheel. It might dissuade a tweeker, but not a serious car thief.

I had no idea any manufacturer was selling a car without an ignition immobilizer for the last decade. People make fun of the Mirage for not having an ignition lock, but at least it has a freaking chip key.

[Mark]

Yep. The Club can be removed in about 30 seconds by taking a hacksaw to the steering wheel. It might dissuade a tweeker, but not a serious car thief.

I had no idea any manufacturer was selling a car without an ignition immobilizer for the last decade. People make fun of the Mirage for not having an ignition lock, but at least it has a freaking chip key.

Current data -

"Thefts of Kias and Hyundais really exploded in 2021. That year MPD saw 3,557 Kias and 3,406 Hyundais stolen compared to 469 Kias and 426 Hyundais in 2020. The Milwaukee-Waukesha area was in the top 10 cities in the U.S. for per capita car thefts in 2021." Sep 19, 2022

"Milwaukee first started experiencing the problem in fall 2020. By 2021, more than two-thirds of vehicles stolen in Milwaukee were made by Kia and Hyundai and more than half of the thieves caught were children. The city had more vehicle thefts than Chicago. Now Chicago is catching up. Year-over-year vehicle theft in the Windy City is up 767% according to CBS."


"The Seattle Police Department reports a 620% year-over-year increase. Omaha reports a 600% increase."

It started to be bad in Milwaukee with kids mostly, but it has become more of a national problem. Last two quotes taken from -

https://urbanmilwaukee.com/2022/08/1...ional-problem/


I just drive manuals. No one even wants to borrow my vehicles when I tell them that.

[Christopher_B]

I had no idea any manufacturer was selling a car without an ignition immobilizer for the last decade. People make fun of the Mirage for not having an ignition lock, but at least it has a freaking chip key.

My 2021 mirage has an ignition lock.

[Mark]

My 2021 mirage has an ignition lock.

So when you turn off your Mirage, you can't turn your steering wheel like all the 2014-20 Mirages?

Obviously, the electric power steering turns off, but none of our Mirages have steering wheel lock. The steering wheel turns a bit harder, but it's definitely not locked up like every other vehicle I have ever owned.