Kia has stated that its Connect feature is intended for customer convenience and not as a security measure for tracking stolen vehicles. The company informed the BBC that Kia Connect does not offer live-tracking functionality for stolen cars.
While the release of vehicle location details is possible through Kia Connect, it must adhere to all applicable laws, including GDPR, a European data protection regulation. This ensures that the disclosure of such information minimizes risk to the customer. In the UK, users have the right to access their data, and organizations are required to respond to such requests within one month, provided the requester can be identified from personal data.
According to the BBC, law enforcement agencies do not possess formal powers to demand this data in standard vehicle theft cases without specific consent from the Home Office, which is rarely sought. The decision to share data with law enforcement ultimately rests with individual car manufacturers based on their own policies.
Kia does provide a premium subscription package in the U.S. that includes a security vehicle tracking service. However, this specific service is not available in the UK or other parts of Europe. The limitations in these regions are attributed to UK law preventing the use of the location tracking function for live tracking of stolen vehicles.