Posted on 07/02/2026 6:55:10 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
The new CA law requires automakers to provide an easy way for consumers to get the tracking on their car shut off under certain circumstances; the carmakers say they need at least a year more to do so.
(Excerpt) Read more at youtu.be ...
Take care of those older cars, they are going to be a godsend in the years ahead if we keep them running.
I could do that in maybe as much as an hour.
Changing some software might be a matter of an afternoon of coding. But testing is another matter, and if any hardware is involved there are standardized tests that _must_ be done that take months.
I was a quality engineer for a Tier 1 supplier for most of my career. When the earthquake hit Japan in ~2008 it created a huge mess that almost shut down major parts of the auto industry. A wafer fab in Sendai that was already due to be shut down was taken out 18 months early by the earthquake. Even if the shift already underway, it was a major crisis as there was a fixed pipeline of remaining parts available for safety-critical electronics. Once it ran dry there would be nothing until new components could be built and tested.
The automakers ran 24/7 war rooms to manage the remaining stockpiles, rushed to get new sources up and running, and launched emergency testing to qualify the new sources before auto factories started shutting down. We built central airbag crash modules and were hours from shutting down, which would have immediately shut down most of Chrysler, the testing timeline was so tight.
Then flooding took out PCB factories in Thailand in 2011 and we went through it all over again.
The U.S. government banned Chinese imports of cars because the CCP spyware conflicted with the spyware U.S. auto manufacturers installed for 3-letter agencies.
You do not need electric monitoring for accidents. Accident reconstruction is an honorable task.
You do not have to monitor via internet for vehicle. these are excuses
Easy fit: remove the antenna.
Refineries vs cars. Newscum offered one company $200,000,000 and they still left (Valero).
Supposedly, you could use the car’s GPS capabilities (something like OnStar maybe?) to stalk someone, or someone might have their phone connected to the car’s infotainment system that could be used to track the location of the vehicle.
All new cars have GPS built in along with “black box” recorders, digital Infotainment screen radios, in-vehicle WiFi/Internet, etc.. Manufacturers can (and do) sell information derived from these systems (location, driving habits, accessory/software/radio/streaming use, etc.) to 3rd parties like insurance companies, advertisers, etc.. See the linked video for more details from lawyer Steve Lehto.
—”Putting my cell phone in a metal pot with the metal lid on will not block the Wi-Fi data service my PC gets from my cell phone.”
I suspect the signal strength has a lot to do with it.
Here in the wilds of DuPage County, we have low signal strength, and worse during the afternoon rush hour.
I tried a few different pots with lids, dialed the cell from the landline...
Some worked, and some did not.
A fun experiment, thank you. Next, I will try good old aluminium foil, but close to a cell with a good signal...
At work, there was an electron microscopy lab next to me, and the chief there would complain if my guys turned the lights on! He had been nominated for a Nobel, but he had no sense of humor.
So they spent $$$, and built a Faraday cage, 3/8” aluminium plate welded 100%, specialized traps for the AC vents...
Better but not 100%.
Some years back, I was inside a Level A project Tempst room COPPER lined!
—”Are you looking for an excuse to complain?”
I’m looking for a car with FSD, and I like BYD.
Also like the Electrified GV70.
“Are you looking for an excuse to complain?”
Also see the test of FSD
https://youtu.be/a46Xp8FtWOg?si=HSyaMHG38hSKqiGs
—”I love pre 1980 cars more by the day wish I had 10 of them.”
Where will you get the unleaded gas to feed them?
Also, road salt has already eaten most of them.
“Why would They (who is that??) need to track you in the first place?”
I track my car when it goes into the shop.
,,, UN agenda 2030. Fifteen minutes cities and all that. The quiet reason for huge data warehouses and billions of dollars being spent on them.
I like to watch the Mecum auctions when there’s a big focus on the pre-’80s cars. They’re beautiful. It’s like an art show.
OK. Let’s say some trojan got installed on the phone that prevents to phone from completely shutting down. A Faraday bag would just be a temporarily solution. The phone wouldn’t be very useful in a Faraday bag all day.
Some that stuff can be disabled at the internet account of the OEM or in the car settings. The settings for my car in a submenu called Data Privacy. Posters on other threads say some of the OEM dealers will disable the SIM in the car.
Yeah some “workarounds”, fuse pulling, “privacy settings”, etc., but I think most of the driving data is stored for a period of time on “a loop” like an aircraft “black box”...police & insurance companies love getting a “download” after an accident/incident/crime and be able to track a suspects past driving routes when they are driving a late model vehicle. The government probably specifies that if the “black box” power is removed then the PCM disables the vehicle....I wouldn’t put it past them!
It is like the new government mandated “driver attention”/drunk driving equipment mandate:
https://stateofsurveillance.org/news/federal-car-surveillance-mandate-2027-nhtsa-dadss-privacy-2026/
A new “industry” may appear specializing in “privacy disconnects” or similar.
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