This. Most cars sold today will have some sort of onboard telematics system that can be accessed remotely. Also every car sold today has a built in data recorder (like an airplane black box) where data can be recalled. There’s also a lot ot things stored in the car’s ECU that can be recalled at any time like hours driven, miles traveled, max speeds, etc. A lot of this is immutable data. Bottom line, there’s a lot of computers and data being stored and/or accessible from any modern car by default. About the only advantage I can see to adding an aftermarket device is it’s something the dealer can directly control.
Does Toyota really need a GPS when they have all the other car electronics to detect it and store the information in the control module?
What I’d be curious about is the relationship between the vendor and the dealer: unless it’s an older model there’s no reason to resort to crude aftermarket mods when continuous surveillance is stock. Unless, of course, you don’t get access to that feed and want your own.
Given the longstanding partially cooperative/partially adversarial relationship between manufacturers and dealers there has to be a whole bunch of (quiet, don’t want to spook the consumer herds) jockeying over the standard ‘connected car’ data; and whether that is for the mothership alone or whether the dealer gets a cut(at least for certain purposes; like coordinating repossession or doing recall alerts).
The fact that this one resorted to their own implant suggests that they don’t get all they want; but it can’t have escaped anyone’s notice that vendors could use the data they have for certain purposes that dealers would value(and potentially pay for; or prefer to stock vehicles bundled with).
Re: Repossession. Owner states in the 2nd video that he paid cash for his car (no financing), so repossession is not a possibility for his particular vehicle.
He also summarizes how the dealership got weaselly when asked about the device. First, deny, deny, deny. Then, when video and device presented, a lame excuse about tracking vehicles stolen from dealership lot. Purchaser took possession of his particular vehicle directly from the truck that delivered it to the dealership (per video #2), so again, BS from dealer as to the WHY this device was installed.
Every few years? It may be recommended but I wonder how many people actually spend that kind of cash on it.
In 1996ish it cost me over 600 bucks. I can only imagine what it costs now.
I keep most of my vehicles to well over 200k miles, my personal best is a Mercury Villager with 360k and an Econoline with just under 300k. With the exception of the Escort I’ve never lost a timing belt/chain. I need to find some wood to knock on but the next time my high milage work van is in the shop I’m gonna ask about it.
Could it be to try to get ammunition to void the dealer-supplied financing?
Whatever happened to the good old fashioned Repo man…
Nobody’s commented on the guy’s unique name??
You would think it would give you a discount since it would aid in recovering a stolen vehicle.
Well, if a timing belt goes while the engine is running, especially at high revs or under any strain, the ‘cost’ is probably that of a new engine. I think my last timing belt change added about £300 or so to my annual service bill, but for some models I’m sure it could be double that. But with a new engine costing thousands… well, it’s not a risk I would take. Certainly I’d check it/get it checked by a professional mechanic on a regular basis.
A redditor put it rather better, in detail:
if a timing belt (or chain for that matter) snaps, several things will happen.
The car will stop running, quite suddenly
You’ll hear a unpleasant loud noise
The car will no longer start, possibly not even turn over
This is because your cams have stopped rotating, and by extension, your valves remain where they are, and the momentum of the pistons will collide with said valves, hence the noise, and you’ll then need new valves, pistons if you’re lucky, or new crank, cams, conrods among other things at worst.
Generally it requires a new engine
An accurate description, rather reminiscent of:
When you’re cruising down the road in the fast lane and you lazily sail past a few hard driving cars and are feeling pretty pleased with yourself and then accidentally change down from fourth to first instead of third thus making your engine leap out of your bonnet in a rather ugly mess, it tends to throw you off your stride in much the same way that this remark threw Ford Prefect off his.
@tcg550 - open your owner’s manual and look for the service information section -that should tell you when the factory says to change the timing belt. Chains require periodic inspection, occasionally tightening on some older cars, and possibly replacement at high miles. Belts require periodic inspection and change by mileage or by years old, depending on the manufacturer. Belts are cheaper to build, chains are more expensive and also louder. Not all engines will self destruct if the belt fails - some are non-interference and the pistons won’t hit the valves. But you’ll still be stranded.
It’s an expensive job, but still cheaper than paying out of pocket for a new engine because it wasn’t replaced when it should have been.
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
