California Attorney General Rob Bonta and nearly two dozen other attorneys general sent a letter Monday to executives with Kia America and Hyundai Motor Company over concerns that the companies have failed to include anti-theft technology in their cars.
The attorneys general argued that Kia and its parent company, Hyundai, declined to include an anti-theft device called an engine immobilizer in their vehicles that use a mechanical key rather than a push-button ignition and were sold in the U.S. between 2011 and 2022.
Engine immobilizers were standard in 96 percent of other new cars by 2015, including the same Kia and Hyundai models the companies sold in Canada and