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Comment by monegator | Hacker News Reader

Yeah, because you allegedly consented to them being able to update your ECUs via the mobile link in the cars when you bought the car.

As if I needed another reason to keep my 2014 skoda.

If i ever have to get a new car, i will disable telemetry, and i will buy it either without telemetry, or with the agreement that i do not consent to telemetry.

(read the fine print before getting a new car. the shit they can do that can go wrong and you have to pay for.. no wonder old cars cost as much as new ones.)

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I assure you that “old cars costing as much as new ones” isn’t the result of the market force of people reading contractual fine print and/or freaking out about telemetry. Concentric circles of echo chambers over here.

The main reason is more tangible to people. It is more reliability and simplicity. For instance the Toyota Tundra used to have a V8 that was pretty bomb proof. But over the years, manufacturers put in more efficient but more prone to problems turbocharged smaller engines. The bearing clearances went down, thinner oil then can be used which is also more efficient. But the margin for error when you are putting what used to be a performance engine in a car is much smaller and there have been issues. As car prices have gone up, people value a time tested drivetrain. There have been a lot of problematic CVT transmissions too.

CVTs, yep. Needed a new vehicle and bought the final year before they switched to CVT. I can only hope that mess somehow sorts itself out eventually.

I agree. I have never met anyone in real life that's concerned about telemetry on their car.

They're worried about the cost of a new car, and the cost of all the electronics, should they go bad.

The Chinese government banned Tesla vehicles from entering (Chinese) military bases. This is due to the prolific number of cameras streaming live video to a hostile (to China) organization/government. One can find blogposts by analysts who show that the upload stream from Tesla vehicles includes cabin audio.

I’ve certainly met them, particularly in the context of Chinese EVs.

I really wish car review publications would start adding a ‘Privacy’ section along side the Perfectly, Road Handling etc parts of reviews

Do they seriously not? Malpractice

I am completely concerned about it. I don't want my car talking to my insurance company or the government. The "dumber" the car, the better.

I realize that I'm not a person in your real life, but FYI I'm concerned about the telemetry in my car.

(Just stating this as a data point for you.)

I’m not worried even a lick about what cars cost electronics or otherwise. My primary factor in selecting a vehicle is my physical safety; after that it’s electronic surveillance.

> I have never met anyone in real life that's concerned about telemetry on their car

You mean you've never had a conversation about it. You can't know if you've met somebody that has that concern unless you've broached the subject explicitly.

How do you disable telemetry in a new car. I have a 2022 Kona. It's the first car I've had with telemetry. No idea how to disable it.

1. get a _real_, unabridged service manual. that takes some darkweb experience nowadays.

2. identify anything that looks like capable of housing a cell modem. that takes some understanding of contemporary car electronics

3. deny RF interface to units identified. that takes some understanding what RF = radio frequency interface is and also getting rid of fear of disassembling significant portions of your car.

All in all that is a great learning experience.

If I disable the modem, does that disable the SOS feature? Do I need to tell my insurance company?

That is the least of your troubles. SOS is the telemetry you wanted to get rid of in the first place.

And chances are you would have to get rid of 2/3 or more of oem electronics.

It'll end up a prototype vehicle or something, with custom ECU and stuff. On the bright side it will belong to you and not to the some mckinsey guys running those insurances and whatnot. It has been done too, although I personally prefer to just use vehicles that do not require this level of effort.

The other day there was a thread on unclouded tractors what I missed and I must tell I love my Universal 445 made in Romania in 1989. For all its quirks, it just gets the job done, no connectivity, no nothing, it's an unbreakable 3-cylinder diesel that just works.

Find the cellular and/or wifi antennae and cut them.

this does not work.

I have a tesla wall charger. I never wanted to connect it to wifi, but it creates its own unique wifi access point TelsaWallConnector-blah-blah.

so I thought - I'll just disconnect the antenna!

nope, still shows up.

so... I'll just wire the antenna it to a dummy load!

nope, still shows up.

It appears the wifi chipset has an on-board antenna and an external antenna connector and it uses them both.

I suspect this stuff happens for wifi and cellular chips in lots of devices.

It works depending on the manufacturer. Honda places the TPU in the dash behind the head unit. Use some spudgers and you can disconnect and remove the TPU. Takes 15 minutes at most.

I was referring to cutting the antenna wires.

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