Hyundai owners can update software, get free steering locks at anti-theft event

County police, Hyundai Motors to hold event at Paint Branch High School in Burtonsville

July 26, 2024 9:36 p.m.

Montgomery County police and Hyundai Motor America are teaming up for another clinic for Hyundai owners to receive an anti-theft software upgrade and a steering wheel lock to help prevent their cars from being stolen.

The clinic will be held from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Aug. 2 and 3 and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Aug. 4 at Paint Branch High School at 14121 Old Columbia Pike in Burtonsville, according to a Hyundai press release.

Thefts of Hyundai vehicles have spiked in the county and around the nation following the rise of a 2022 social media trend called the “Kia Challenge” in which thieves documented themselves bypassing a vehicle’s security features and dismantling the steering columns to create access to the ignition.

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Next weekend’s anti-theft event follows a clinic that was held at Montgomery County’s public safety headquarters in Gaithersburg in May. According to the release, more than 600 Hyundai vehicles were updated with anti-theft devices and software.

“There is no cost whatsoever, no appointment whatsoever, not even any ID required,” David Vandelinde, vice president of Hyundai Motor America said at a press conference for the first clinic in May. “All we need is the serial number on the vehicle.”

The software giveaway is part of Hyundai’s effort to prevent thefts after the TikTok challenge went viral, Vandelinde said. In February 2023, the company launched software packages for 3.7 million Hyundai vehicles that use a key-turn-to-start ignition system. The packages are being installed at dealerships across the country, he said.

Vandelinde also noted the company decided to partner with law enforcement agencies to offer installation of the software updates, realizing that car owners might not have time to get to a local dealership.

In 2023, there were 3,438 auto thefts in the county, which was around a 130% increase from the 1,499 auto thefts in 2022.

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“If you have a Hyundai manufactured between the years of 2011 and 2021, this is place where you need to be,” police Chief Marcus Jones said at the anti-theft clinic in May.

He noted that at the time, Hyundais made up more than 40% of the 1,094 vehicles that have been stolen so far in the county this year. 

In November, 13 Montgomery County Public Schools students were arrested for carjackings and auto thefts. The arrests followed an incident in which police tracked down two vehicles after determining they were stolen in armed carjackings.

One vehicle, containing Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School students, crashed after a pursuit by police. A short time later, another vehicle was found by police near B-CC, and after several suspects fled, the school went on lockdown while officers searched for them.

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