Is this car manufactured by one of the Big 3?
Probably the way companies figure anything else out. BIG ASS LAWSUITS when something awful finally happens. The problem is that there will be so so so much out there to fix that it would be nigh impossible at that point.
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Case in point: Takata air bags.
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and I am sure the dealers are going to just love completely rewiring the onboard computer system for free on millions of cars.
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I should have said ānew to meā, but it was a 2014 with less than 10k miles. To me, this is NEW 
However, it SHOULD be under warrantyā¦and yet things like the nav system? The previous owner had the nav system activated, and they disabled it for me ā because it is an extra $500 to turn it on. For a system that had already had lifetime access to this, and the only reason to disable it is to make a few extra bucks. I told them I have a fucking watch that will give me directions and that I wasnāt going to give them any extra money. The salesman told me āgood luck with resaleāā¦which in 10 years (my average ownership) if we donāt all have contacts lenses that give us an overlay of the road in front of us, Iāll eat my iPhone16.
So it really is a car dealership just being a car dealership.
It is a Fiat. So yeah. It is still weird thinking of Fiat as one of the big onesā¦
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Dear FSM, I had a feeling it was going to be Chrysler or GM. And my parents wonder why Iāve never owned a āUSā made vehicle.
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Holy crap. I would have said no sale and started walking.
The 2013(?) Prius we got was similar. Less than 10k miles but we bought from a standard used car dealer (well sorta standard they specialize in fancy BMWs, Porsches, Mazaraits etc.) They were not a shop where they would disable anything or probably have proper authorization to, heck the trial sirus subscription was still good on it. They even knocked 2K off the price as the prius we came to look at sold already. We got free oil changes at a proper dealership for a year or so even.
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even though most of those ānon usaā cars are made in the usa cause it is cheaper to build a plant and make things here than to ship thousands of cars via cargo container. heck some are the same car as āusā ones with just a different logo/name slapped on depending on the production run/line at the factory.
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Yeah, this is the thing I am not looking forward to dealing with for my new car.
I would think the first thing Iād want to disable as a known vulnerability is the proximity-based key detection, but that poses an immediate real problem - there is no physical keyswitch to revert to.
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I went OpenWRT on mine, because they supported a lot broader range of hardware. And I reflashed it as soon as it came out of the box, before even putting it on the network.
Unfortunately I donāt think the OpenWRT group is going to branch out to supporting cars.
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See as a guy that loves gadgets I sorta think that proximity thing is neat in concept, but then āwait what happens if that donāt work.ā Wellā¦ Uhā¦ Shit.
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They were trying to make a dealā¦I got several grand knocked off the car, got almost as much on my trade in as I could have gotten in a private deal ā and not have to worry about someone bothering me for months at a time about it ā and I sorta out manuevered them on a few things like the add ins on the contract they didnāt expect anyone would read (i.e., $700 for the underbody protectionā¦and the 7 year waranty that really added 3 years to the car and cost $3600). They kept telling me to sign it and that I could read it later. They closed at 9PM and I was still signing papers at 11ā¦
I got an excellent deal out of itā¦in the end, they wanted to try to make up for the money they lost on having an informed consumer. I have a feeling ANYONE that takes the time to read these things would be able to save a couple grand. Just canāt let them know you are informed before you get to a price you want.
I didnāt walk because it was a good price and it is something Iād never in a million years use. Should I use the built in maps that are always going to be at least a year out of date, or one that is connected to my phone? It just kinda seemed annoying that it isnāt activated.
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Ours still has a physical key in the fob and a not so obvious place for on the driver door only. Also I think the keyless works via RFID so you just need to be close. I can just put my hand in the door handle and it will unlock as long as I have the fob in my pocket.
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Iām well aware, thus the scare quotes. Sitting about a half hour drive from GMās headquarters, less than half hour from Fordās headquarters and an hour to Chryslerās headquarters (the freeways here are laid out stupid), you get more automotive news than you might otherwise seek out. Any of the cross branding deals that go down are reported on the evening news, so you know which cars to avoid if youāre even half-assed paying attention.
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Ahh well that is a bit of a difference. Since we donāt have lots of tech gadgets compared to most people the sat nav has been a novelty. Heck the car in general has been pretty wild and amazing coming from the previous 1996 saturn.
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Heh! I can imagine! I traded my '96 Saturn SC2 in for a 2006 Ion. I loved my Saturns, but I started getting all sorts of sensor errors and the cooling went out a few weeks ago ā which the dealer couldnāt find anything wrong, but it would start to over heat randomly and againā¦I think it was a sensor issue that was causing it. I PROBABLY could have fixed it all for a grand or two, but Iād still be dealing with a car that was a decade old.
The #1 thing I love about the new car is the backup camera. Didnāt have these a decade ago (or at least cheaply). And then the bluetooth system that means I now donāt drive with headphones inā¦and the minute I get into my car, my podcasts start to play from where I left off.
It is amazing how much goes into these thingsā¦honestly, one of the reasons I picked this one up was that I was afraid that if Tesla actually did make that sub-$35k car that they were talking about, I was going to go into debt buying one. I couldnāt even imagine all the toys that go into these ones! Even a couple years old, the tech is far more than I was use to. Iām going to get excited again in 2026 when I upgrade again!!!
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Or heck just the fact I can plug in a thumb drive full of mp3s into the usb port and instant jukebox of music I actually like that will last a multi day road trip without repeats.
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I am delighted that my car came with an app that lets me unlock it from anywhere with my phone.
Truly the most useful thing I could possibly think of - all those times Iāve wanted to open the car when I was nowhere near it, finally that problem is solved.
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I canāt tell if this is sarcastic or not! Damn interwebs! I had an ex that locked her purse and keys in her car CONSTANTLY. Being able to use the phone to open it would have been amazing. There were times she had to call me from someone elseās phone (since hers was in her purse, locked in the trunk)ā¦and Iād have to run to her place, find her keys, run back to her car and unlock it for her. I would have loved to have been able to tell her that its unlocked and never have to see her!
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Next time I get a car, I want something truly unusual and innovative. I want a car with no software in it, and especially no network interface of any kind.
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