A Milwaukee woman says her Kia has been stolen not once, not twice, but three times, even after she installed the free security upgrade and took other precautions to try to avoid being victimized.
“I didn’t even know it was a thing until it was stolen the first time and after it was stolen for the first time I learned about Kia boys,” said Trisha Nguyen. When Milwaukee Police found her 2014 Kia Optima after it was stolen Tuesday, they discovered damage inside and out.
Nguyen is even more frustrated this time because she said she has installed the anti-theft software upgrade that Kia said would prevent this crime from happening.
“I was initially told that the car could only start with a key ignition but that’s not the case because they broke the steering column again with a USB port,” said Nguyen.
In October, TMJ4 News spoke with a project manager for Kia’s Anti-Theft Program who explained how the upgrade is supposed to work.
“This software update makes it so even if they try to plug that USB port and it’s not going to disable the ignition immobilizer, it’s going to keep that intact and it is going to sound the factory alarm,” said Emily Falecki, Project Manager with Kia’s Anti-Theft Program.