FAST AND FURIOUS
I spent £50k on my flash Hyundai EV… and then I watched it get stolen in 5 SECONDS – it was too easy for thieves
THIS is the shocking moment thieves break into a £50,000 electric Hyundai and tear off - in just FIVE seconds
Robert Whiteside was on holiday in Cyprus when a notification woke him up to say his Ioniq5 had been unlocked.
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The 49-year-old remotely checked his CCTV and saw the car - parked outside his South London home - had vanished.
The tech company exec, from Wandsworth, said: "Two people walk up, open the car and drive off in a matter of seconds.
"We were shocked and being away from the UK had challenges reaching the police via 999 so had to resort to other channels.
"I then realised the thief had removed me from the Bluelink App so I had no visibility of the car’s status or location."
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Robert was able to see the car's location via a second account but Met cops took "days" to register the theft.
His prize Hyundai went to Essex, which cops visited, then to another location before its location disappeared.
Robert approached Hyundai over concerns that the car's signal vanished on the app.
But he said it took "around six weeks to get a very generic response" from the South Korean car giant, .
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They reportedly told him the car was secure by industry standards and the solution was to have insurance.
The car was never found.
Tech whizz Robert - who had his Ioniq5 keys with him - reckons the thugs used a mimicking device to access the car.
He fumed: "What good is any security if the thief effectively has a key which bypasses everything?"
Figures obtained through Freedom of Information by Leasing Options found the Ioniq5 to be the second most stolen electric vehicle in 2023.
After the footage was posted online, other drivers of the model shared their horror stories.
Bambos Chambi blasted: “My Ioniq 5 was taken in the same way two days ago.
"Waited 12 months for it and only enjoyed it for 10! How can manufacturers not be culpable?"
Jerry Fox fumed: “My Ioniq 5 Namshan model was stolen last night in my driveway… the lucky thing is I managed to recover the car myself this morning 5km away from home."
Hyundai said it was aware of "recent incidents" and were working with police to look into the "issue".
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A spokesperson for Hyundai UK added: “Hyundai Motor UK takes the security of its vehicles very seriously.
"We are aware of some recent incidents and are actively cooperating with the local police authorities’ investigation into the issue."
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