Ian Fogg watched his car being driven away on his video doorbell, had an Apple Airtag hidden inside it, and the manufacturer itself could see its precise location – yet weeks later, the vehicle is still missing. His story exposes a "genuine and growing gap" between what consumers expect from connected car apps and what they can actually deliver, according to Thatcham Research.
Fogg, a technology analyst at FDM CCS Insight, was abroad in March this year when his phone pinged to say he no longer had access to the Kia Connect app. Thieves had broken into the vehicle without the keys and disconnected his phone via the entertainment system – an unsecured process designed to make it easier for new owners to take over.
“Kia owner unable to retrieve stolen car despite live location data as UK law prevents tracking”
For a short while he could track the car via the Apple Airtag, until the thieves located it and discarded it because it was making a noise – a feature Apple introduced to combat stalking. But Fogg still had another option: Kia itself could see the car's live location through its Connect service. The company told the BBC, however, that UK law prevented it from using that function for live tracking of stolen vehicles.
"This car was incredibly easy to hack but incredibly difficult to track," Fogg told BBC News. "It shouldn't be this easy to nick a car when they cost an order of magnitude more than a phone and have similar radio technology."
Kia advised him to fill in a form every time he requested the car's location. He did this eight times, and each time the information arrived 24–48 hours after the car had been recorded there – far too late to be of any use.
"Kia Connect is a customer convenience feature, not a certified security vehicle tracker," the firm said. "Therefore, it does not provide live‑tracking functionality for stolen vehicles. Release of location details of a vehicle via Kia Connect is possible, however this must be done in full compliance with all applicable laws, in particular GDPR, and the authorities to minimise risk to the customer."
Fogg's experience has become a cautionary tale of how tech can promise security but cannot necessarily be relied upon in a crisis. Thatcham Research warned there is a genuine gap between consumer expectation and the technical reality of connected car features – meaning drivers who assume their app will help recover a stolen car may be in for a bitter surprise.