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Comment by 542458 | Hacker News Reader

I wonder what happens when you get into a bad crash, somebody decides to sue, and it comes out that your car was running modified software. Would you be exposing yourself to any liability?

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Massad Ayoob recommends against [0] using a defensive firearm with, say, a modified trigger due to potential liability. [1] This situation seems similar.

[0]: http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2011/01/brad-kozak/the-mass...

[1]: http://www.royblack.com/files/Alvarez.pdf

I can imagine a few ways that you could.

Say you installed a media player. Now you'll have to convince a jury that you didn't install a media player just so you could watch videos while driving, and therefore were distracted at the time.

Most in-dash sat/nav units aren't allowed to play any video in most states. You can bypass/disable it, but that can run you into liability issues.

I had a SatNav where an "unable to detect park gear" warning always showed up (I had a stick shift, so it the wires were connected to the hand-break). The guy at the shop couldn't figure out why it was shorting so he just disabled it and said, "Don't watch DVDs while driving."

You know I never did use the DVD player in there ever, not even while parked, in the 5 years I had it.

This always comes up in these threads, but I don't understand how it would be any different from millions of cars running around with modified engines, suspensions, brakes, non-OEM tires and wheels. If it can be shown that your modification contributed to the accident, then liability will be apportioned accordingly. Usually it can't.

But software is much more complicated. If I put aftermarket suspension in, it's pretty unlikely that it will significantly screw up my brakes. But with software, it's a lot harder to say what affects what, especially considering how many cars have a single computer that handles both critical and non-critical tasks. A media player mod could very well screw up the brakes by hogging system resources or crashing the computer. If my insurance refuses to pay out after a crash on account of that, do I have to prove my mods to be safe?

NB: I have almost no idea how liability and insurance works in the US.

He needs to wire the "deploy airbags" trigger to also do "reset software to factory default.".

Aren't you already liable for all damage in an at fault accident? If you modified it yourself, I'm not sure there's any blame that can be shifted around.

If whoever you hit's lawyer manages to make a case that the accident was worse as a result of your modifications, you might have a problem.

Not before tesla disables the car.:) from what I read, any kind of hacking can get your vehicle disabled.

I guess it's like if you replace the breaks yourself.

This is exactly how I think of it. No one questions people doing mechanical work on their car, but touch the software and you get crucified.

People still don' (want to) understand software.

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