In point of fact, Insurance companies have been refusing to cover some of these Kia and Hyundai cars because they're "too easy to steal". The lack of immobilizer chip apparently is the culprit.
I cannot believe that modern (consumer) cars are being sold without an immobiliser.
Down here in Australia it's been a legal requirement since 2001 that vehicles be sold fitted with immobilisers, and our versions of the Kia and Hyundai models mentioned in the article you link to are not vulnerable to this attack.
The engineering work is already done, it is pure greed on the part of the manufacturer to leave it out.
Yep, in my country (Poland), a couple years ago, the yearly insurance premium for some new models of Mazdas were reaching 25% value of the car. They were that easy to steal.
Down here in Australia it's been a legal requirement since 2001 that vehicles be sold fitted with immobilisers, and our versions of the Kia and Hyundai models mentioned in the article you link to are not vulnerable to this attack.
The engineering work is already done, it is pure greed on the part of the manufacturer to leave it out.