Fashion Fair will be the site of a Kia anti-theft event May 31 to June 2. Photo by Nils Bogdanovs on unsplash.com

Kia is hosting an event at Fresno’s Fashion Fair Mall this weekend aimed at owners whose vehicles have been targeted by theft gangs.

Earlier this month the Fowler Police Department released a warning about the “Fresno Kia Boys,” a group of juveniles traveling through the Central Valley stealing Kia and Hyundai vehicles due to a vulnerability in their ignition design.

Kia America has been hosting free anti-theft events across the country, offering free software upgrades or ignition cylinder protectors.

The event runs May 31 – June 2 —Friday and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from 8 .m. to 3 p.m. It will be held in the parking lot just south of Forever 21. There will be an air-conditioned lounge, snack, drinks and restrooms for Kia owners eligible for the free upgrades.

Gangs across the country have taken to social media to show off their vehicle thefts. The thieves start by breaking a window then punching open the plastic housing around the ignition switch. A USB accessory is then used to start the vehicle — a theft that takes less than a minute, according to Fowler police.

Fowler police recommend Kia drivers store their vehicles in locked garages and use a steering wheel lock if parking a Kia or Hyundai in a public place.

In December, Kia America announced a new theft deterrent — an ignition cylinder protector — for vehicles not eligible for a security software upgrade.

“Vehicle security is a top priority for Kia and we continue to take action to support our customers by helping to protect their vehicles from thefts, which have been encouraged by content spread across social media,” said Greg Silvestri, vice president, service operations, Kia America. “Reinforcing the ignition cylinder body is the latest step to help guard against these methods of theft and we strongly encourage owners of vehicles that don’t have engine immobilizers and are not able to receive our security software upgrade to have this free security measure installed.”

Last year, Kia dealers installed anti-theft software upgrades on nearly 1 million vehicles.