Best solution I’ve found for this is to always buy the “base” model of any car you get. Those are always with the “least features”, which means nothing is smart about the car. Good old Bluetooth radio at best. You may not have those bullshit features like the lift gate, or lane assist which aren’t really necessary for me anyway. Gotta go basic. You also pay less.
Generally I agree with you but I do love one advanced feature in my car. Collision avoidance and dynamic cruise control are awesome. I’m glad my car is a little older, though. It doesn’t have connectivity and uses my phone’s GPS but is still new enough to have a few advanced features.
Yeah, that collision thing saved my wife the other day. She’s a terrible driver and she almost rear ended a car on the highway, but this thing stopped the car for her. As for me, I always pick the base model and I’m ok with it
Not anymore. And not with just about any luxury car brand. They simplify their manufacturing buy putting everything in. So you may not have a head unit equipped with satellite radio. But the antennas and such? I would not bet on them not being there. This has been a thing for years. When car toys became popular a few car brands tried to discourage aftermarket electronics and so on. But it costs them too much money in manufacturing costs to keep it diversified over time. Money that could be going to investors. So to do that they diversified their manufacturing. And then streamlined it again. So for instance your base model might not come with all the bells and whistles. But the antennas? The wire harnesses? Those are all the same. It’s like how if they make a model with a sunroof that sunroof has to drain. Models not equipped with the sunroof will not have the glass or the drains. But the drain holes? Yeah they just plug those with a rubber stopper.
That’s why you could upgrade a fair few cars. Add in radios with tape decks and aux jacks and so on. The plugs were all there. So chances are if they sell the model with a radio transceiver installed then all the trim levels have it.
Your mileage may vary. I work in avionics but I’m qualified for a lot of different electronics installation and repair. A lot of automakers have deliberately made it so removal of Sim cards that allow for the transmission of this data will brick the vehicle (according to others in this and other threads on this topic that I have been reading). You may not have a choice. The electronics in the vehicle measure things like wheel speed, braking force, tire pressure. If your car has ABS (which new vehicles are required to have due to safety) there’s a computer for that. Power steering Assist? There’s a computer for that especially if you don’t have power steering fluid under your hood and therefore don’t have a hydraulic power steering system. All of those computers collect data. I would absolutely not be surprised if that data is part of what is transmitted back.
That being said, I am thinking it’s also possible that if there is enough public outcry (especially with John Deere losing their case against right to repair) there will be a market now for devices and software that modify or otherwise neutralize this data connection. Whether that will go unanswered by automakers I can’t say. But while I would recommend that everyone learn to change a tire, spark plugs, and do an oil change, I wouldn’t recommend that people start mucking about with electricity and software without having some kind of guide. 12 volts isn’t a lot but that’s not the only danger when you’re messing with a vehicle that moves at significant speed.
When I build a wire harness I don’t just run one wire. Usually it’s a whole bundle of specific lengths based on engineering drawings and schematics with markers representing and identifying each wire. Car manufacturers build their wires in poor Asian countries mostly. The wire harnesses are not properly marked and I also think might be mostly all one harness for this kind of thing. Like. One body harness and so on. I also don’t think they have any identifying marks except color and there’s no real regulations I think for them using multiple wires of the same colour in the same harness. So you may even find a guide that says cut the green and white wire. But there may be three of them.
Best solution I’ve found for this is to always buy the “base” model of any car you get. Those are always with the “least features”, which means nothing is smart about the car. Good old Bluetooth radio at best. You may not have those bullshit features like the lift gate, or lane assist which aren’t really necessary for me anyway. Gotta go basic. You also pay less.
Except many cars are now the same physical product and you simply pay for dlc.
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Well, I’ll be damned then. A horse and a wagon it is.
Generally I agree with you but I do love one advanced feature in my car. Collision avoidance and dynamic cruise control are awesome. I’m glad my car is a little older, though. It doesn’t have connectivity and uses my phone’s GPS but is still new enough to have a few advanced features.
Yeah, that collision thing saved my wife the other day. She’s a terrible driver and she almost rear ended a car on the highway, but this thing stopped the car for her. As for me, I always pick the base model and I’m ok with it
Not anymore. And not with just about any luxury car brand. They simplify their manufacturing buy putting everything in. So you may not have a head unit equipped with satellite radio. But the antennas and such? I would not bet on them not being there. This has been a thing for years. When car toys became popular a few car brands tried to discourage aftermarket electronics and so on. But it costs them too much money in manufacturing costs to keep it diversified over time. Money that could be going to investors. So to do that they diversified their manufacturing. And then streamlined it again. So for instance your base model might not come with all the bells and whistles. But the antennas? The wire harnesses? Those are all the same. It’s like how if they make a model with a sunroof that sunroof has to drain. Models not equipped with the sunroof will not have the glass or the drains. But the drain holes? Yeah they just plug those with a rubber stopper.
That’s why you could upgrade a fair few cars. Add in radios with tape decks and aux jacks and so on. The plugs were all there. So chances are if they sell the model with a radio transceiver installed then all the trim levels have it.
So does that mean I can remove all of their garbage and my own that doesn’t spy on me?
Your mileage may vary. I work in avionics but I’m qualified for a lot of different electronics installation and repair. A lot of automakers have deliberately made it so removal of Sim cards that allow for the transmission of this data will brick the vehicle (according to others in this and other threads on this topic that I have been reading). You may not have a choice. The electronics in the vehicle measure things like wheel speed, braking force, tire pressure. If your car has ABS (which new vehicles are required to have due to safety) there’s a computer for that. Power steering Assist? There’s a computer for that especially if you don’t have power steering fluid under your hood and therefore don’t have a hydraulic power steering system. All of those computers collect data. I would absolutely not be surprised if that data is part of what is transmitted back.
That being said, I am thinking it’s also possible that if there is enough public outcry (especially with John Deere losing their case against right to repair) there will be a market now for devices and software that modify or otherwise neutralize this data connection. Whether that will go unanswered by automakers I can’t say. But while I would recommend that everyone learn to change a tire, spark plugs, and do an oil change, I wouldn’t recommend that people start mucking about with electricity and software without having some kind of guide. 12 volts isn’t a lot but that’s not the only danger when you’re messing with a vehicle that moves at significant speed.
When I build a wire harness I don’t just run one wire. Usually it’s a whole bundle of specific lengths based on engineering drawings and schematics with markers representing and identifying each wire. Car manufacturers build their wires in poor Asian countries mostly. The wire harnesses are not properly marked and I also think might be mostly all one harness for this kind of thing. Like. One body harness and so on. I also don’t think they have any identifying marks except color and there’s no real regulations I think for them using multiple wires of the same colour in the same harness. So you may even find a guide that says cut the green and white wire. But there may be three of them.
Wow, that’s just ridiculous.
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