A free anti-theft clinic for Hyundai owners starts Friday at Empire Field at Mile High, according to a news release from Hyundai Motor America.
The event, hosted by the Denver Police Department and Hyundai Motor America, will be held Friday and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. in parking lot E at Empower Field. No registration or appointment is required.
Any Hyundai owner who visits the clinic will receive a steering wheel lock and be eligible for an anti-theft software upgrade or an ignition sleeve, according to Hyundai representative Ira Gabriel.
Those with Hyundai vehicles made from 2011 to 2021 with turn key ignitions may be eligible for the free anti-theft software upgrade. “If they have the push button they don’t need the software because it already has the mobilizer built into the vehicle, but we will still give them a steering wheel lock,” Gabriel says.
Once locked with the key fob, a Hyundai with the software upgrade will not start until it is unlocked. “The software acts as an ignition kill,” Gabriel says. “The method that everybody’s been sharing on social media, how to break in and do crimes with the vehicle, it’ll essentially render that impossible. We’ve installed well over a million pieces of software throughout all the dealerships and the clinics we do around the country with no failure at all.”
Mobile service technicians will be on-site to install and complete the upgrade, which normally takes less than 30 minutes, according to the release. Those who can’t make it to the clinic can still get the free software upgrade at any Hyundai dealership.
In 2023, Hyundai Elantra and Chevrolet Silverado were the vehicles most frequently reported stolen. Hyundai and Kia vehicles accounted for 23% of all reported thefts in the state, according to previous reporting by the Denver Post.
Over the past five years, auto theft has risen 62% in Colorado, with 32,976 vehicles reported stolen in 2023 alone, according to a March 22 press release from the Colorado State Patrol.
Reported vehicle thefts have finally dropped, with a 21% decrease across the state between 2022 and 2023. So far this year, auto thefts are 32% lower in Denver than in 2023, according to the Denver Police Department’s crime dashboard.
Doug Schepman, director of communications at DPD, believes this decline is due to the city’s increased theft prevention efforts. In January, Mayor Mike Johnston announced a comprehensive strategy to fight auto theft, including the establishment of a permanent DPD team dedicated to auto thefts and an increase in the number of license plate readers installed throughout the city. A new program called DenverTrack also allows Denver residents to preregister any vehicle made after 2014 with the police department. If the car is reported stolen, the location can be tracked immediately via GPS.
Schepman is hopeful that anti-theft upgrades for high-risk cars like Hyundais will further decrease auto thefts in Denver. “It’s kind of a call to action for people who own these types of vehicles to get this software patch to prevent the auto theft in the first place. Prevention is key,” Schepman says. “We are hoping that hundreds, if not more than a thousand, people bring their cars out and take advantage of this free event.”
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