First: It’s funny, because it is happening to Russians
Second: It’s fucking scary, because it can happen everywhere. Fuck cars that rely on digital services.
This is why I own a ‘79. I could’ve gotten something way newer, but it was a great price for a reliable machine and it’s in great condition. Easy to work on if need be and I can’t be stopped from driving it. Wish I would’ve thought about the lack of airbags, but what’s a drive without a little(lot of) danger?
The six miles of vacuum tubing under the hood will absorb most of the crash energy.
I have a 2014 and a 2017 with no required connections. Your point?
Good for you, now let us see you do it again with a '25
Sounds like a real business opportunity for aftermarket electronics to circumvent the connection need.
first they disabled Russian porsches and I didn’t care because I am not a russian owner of a porsche.
then they came for Ukrainian tractors and I didn’t care because I am not an Ukrainian owner of a tractor.
then step by step everything was digitally locked and I owned nothing and I was not really happy.
Just got a dishwasher and it doesn’t even have an app. How can that be?
Just got a toilet and it doesn’t even have an app. How can that be?
Just got a car and it is driven by bear. How can this be?
You may be Russian, or Alaskan.
are you from the past?
and I owned nothing
Companies love that, until everybody is completely in debt and they learn you can’t seize property from people that don’t own anything.
By then they will already own all the property.
Vehicle Tracking System (VTS) — a security module designed to prevent theft but now shutting down cars unexpectedly.
Also, what a strangely written article.
Owners welcomed theft deterrent like that. OnStar is probably the main original US service, found in GM cars. I think Subaru picked them up at some point, but basically all new cars have the option to have manufacturer tracking and app-based vehicle connections for remote start, tracking, service alerts, diagnostic uploads, etc
But who steals a Porsche? 1 in 4 Lexus SUVs are stolen because where they end up in eastern europe and Africa, people want reliable vehicles. Top two stolen vehicles by far are Civics and Accords for that reason. No one steals Land Rovers.
[…] and what owners can do next.
Sell their Porsche and buy a car that can’t be locked remotely?
It’s even worse than that. Porsches are locked by default, and can only be enabled remotely.
In 2025? Is that even a thing?
You can disable the modem on new Toyotas and they run fine. The dealership will bitch and moan but they can be disabled.
There might be some old Ladas around.
One way to tell: disable the cellular modem in your car and see if it still operates.
This assumes there’s a user accessible option to disable it.
I assumed it’s not a option, so I took the suggestion to mean “physically disable” the device. Modern cars have a number of integrated computers and they rarely serve individual purposes, but there’s a good chance there’s an external antenna near/in a window. Granted, I don’t have any vehicles with cell service, so I could be wrong. I do own a drill though
Just wrap your car in tinfoil. Bonus is that it stops the government from reading you mind while inside.
Shill for big foil…thanks for the advice MR REYNOLDS.
Probably can’t do this unless you’ve already bought it.
There’s the upcoming Slate trucks, but those are scheduled for Q4 2026. And… also probably going to be US exclusive for a bit. Oof.
The Slate truck is simple for YOU. It doesn’t have lots of bells and whistles, but is still and electric vehicle that runs on computers. I haven’t heard if it has a remote connection yet, but I bet it does. Also, Jeff Bezos is an investor and I am pretty sure it is not some new altruistic streak for Amazon to launch a consumer product that they can’t monetize forever.
Slate will have no OTA capabilities. How they will monatize forever is by selling parts to users and educating them how to service themselves.
I took the question initially in jest, then sat back and thought about it. fuck.
To be fair though… I came out to my old car without digital nonsense yesterday and it didn’t start either.
Sorry you had to find out your car is homophobic like that.
Sell them to whom?
Recycling companies?
Why not do cars need internet access in order to start?
I understand having auxiliary services the network connected but surely the failure mode should just be an error on the screen but otherwise the car should still function. It’s not like operating without internet access is dangerous or anything.
Also, why don’t we just do that, cut Russias internet access, it seems like it would cause utter chaos.
It’s the reason why no one steals Teslas. Easy to brick, impossible to charge on their system if stolen.
Because it was the anti theft system and immobilizer.
It would be pretty useless if it could be defeated by putting some foil on the antenna so that it loses network connection and defaulted to allowing you to drive.How does it validate that you are a valid driver? Do you enter a PIN or something?
I doubt most owners of recent-model luxury-brand cars in Russia are average joes for which this is their only transport. I therefore find my sympathy to be somewhat limited.
You mean the ‘M’ word don’t you
The “O” word, actually: oligarchs (or their relatives or best buddies). Chances are that at least some of them are under sanction in more civilized countries.
“smart” cars
Well, it’s because Russia is jamming GPS signal, it affects planes, cars, everything relying on GPS.
That’s a huge leap to assume GPS blocking was also blanketing other 2 way satellite communication frequencies.
None of these things need GPS to function. Even planes. A compass, a map and a clock go a long way.
For planes maybe it’s not strictly necessary but makes things way safer
