Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Hyundai is holding five mobile clinics across the country, including one in Rochester to provide software updates to help owners avoid being victims of theft.
The South Korean automaker will hold the clinics, which will run for two to three days on, or adjacent to weekends in New York City, Chicago, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Minn. and Rochester, N.Y. The clinics will take place between Oct. 28 and Nov. 18.
The "Car Coach", Lauren Fix, credits Hyundai with getting in front of the problem.
"The right thing to do is what Hyundai is doing in getting in front of a problem as quick as they can," said Fix with WBEN.
She says the automaker had Tik Tok remove videos showing how to steal Hyundais, as well as Kias. She says Hyundai developed a software upgrade to equip the affected cars with an ignition kill feature that's designed to prevent thefts.
Fix says it's worthwhile to go to Rochester to get one the upgrades.
"It's a free anti-theft software upgrade. They're putting it on 4 million vehicles that are involved," Fix said.
Rochester has seen a spike in auto thefts in recent months.
Thefts are still happening in Cheektowaga, says Police Capt. Brian Coons.
"It seems a little more Kias have been stolen than Hyundais, but vehicle makes are still way up there as far as vehicles being stolen," said Coons with WBEN.
Coons cites one example where a person parked his car at night, came out the next morning, and where he parked his car was just a pile of glass.
"We take the report, we have to enter the vehicle into our stolen data database, and then it's just a matter of an officer finding it. It's usually just parked there and abandoned, so we're recovering the vehicles anywhere from a couple hours from the time they're stolen to days later," Coons said.
Amherst Police Lt. Jonathan Klein says thefts have gone down in Amherst, with just two reported incidents. But he warns against doing something that seems more convenient.
"A lot of the newer cars are key fobs that people leave them in the center console or in the cupholder or the glovebox, so they can just get in in the morning at the break and start right up," says Klein.
Lt. Klein urges people not to do that, instead lock your car doors.
"Very rarely do we have people smashing windows, it's usually a crime of opportunity when the keys are locked in there," he said.
Fix says the thefts have not affected the bottom lines of Kia and Hyundai.
"They've sold more Hyundais and Kias than ever. Their product is not the problem. This is a software issue that ... actually become a hardware issue as well. But they've been able to get in front of it as quick as they can," she said.
Fix adds the best thing a company can do is stand behind its product when a problem happens, which is what they've done.
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