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Comment by mkmk | Hacker News Reader

Why are they particularly liable here, compared to any other car manufacturer that makes stealable cars?

Because their cars lacked an immobilizer, which most other manufacturers have included as standard for a long time (and Kia and Hyundai only stopped using them recently). Some countries require them in new cars as well.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immobiliser and linked from there https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kia_Challenge

Would I get sued if I made cars without cupholders and tiktok started trending "lets accelerate and brake with a cup of hot coffee in our lap" challenge? After all "cupholders are standard for a long time".

That’s entirely the user’s fault if that happens. Immobilizers are about preventing theft that the user can’t control.

Was user forced to buy car without immobilizer?

A user might not know to look for that sort of thing. That's why we rely on regulators, safety standards, etc.

I didn't even know what "immobilizer" meant in this context before hearing about the issue with Kia and Hyundai a while ago.

Because of lack of electronic immobilizer in many cars made through 2021 that made it easier to steal compared to cars from other makes.

But, is there some legal requirement or regulation they were failing to meet? Or did they falsely advertise their cars as having immobilizers when they actually didn't? I'm struggling to understand where their legal liability for the thefts is coming from.

They didn't break any law. They failed to practice common sense.

"In the 2015 model year, immobilizers were standard on 96% of other manufacturers' models, the institute said. But they were standard on only 26% of Hyundai and Kia models."

That's a serious lapse in judgement. Theft rate Hyundai and Kia w/o the device was 80-90% higher than the rest. They would've known that, yet they failed to act.

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