I’m avoiding getting new vehicles partly for that reason. I’m looking to replace our worn out 1996 Nissan Quest either with a 2003 Toyota Sequoia or a ‘94-’97 Chevy Caprice/Buick Roadmaster wagon. The main thing stopping me from geting the wagon is a a driveway that lends itself to bottoming out.
There really ARE innocent commercial uses a car with WIFI and reporting capabilities that could be used very effectively. For instance, I’d like my wife’s explorer to be able to hook up with my home wifi and tell me the mileage, etc and if it’s time for an erl change. She can’t tell mileage from shit and don’t care. It’s frustrating.
If it weren’t for the FBI and NSA et all I’d be all over Ford to get this crap done, dammit.
Well if you live outside the “salt belt” you can pretty much go on forever with a rig, as long as you are willing to do the upkeep.
Just saw a good looking Roadmaster wagon over the weekend in a Costco lot. Rear license plate was Indiana: BURN GAS and front was Roadmaster Yacht Club.
Or just don’t get a car that talks to home. My ‘16 Elentra has no wifi, no OnStar clone, none of that. Really all those things are extra features, you can very easily get a new car without them.
“I’m avoiding getting new vehicles partly for that reason.”
Besides the hacking, the daily problems with wifi signals even in our own homes without the extra impact of extreme heat and or cold in a locked vehicle and on the road may have crippling impacts on those wifi systems and maybe the car.
Most months of the year, my home Comcast wifi is good around the house with some plug in wifi extenders. The first month into spring and fall with the sun blasting directly into and on to our office window where the modem is, can neutralize wifi in areas were we normally use it.
This week with really bright sunshine has been the beginning of the problem of lost or weak wifi signals which will last until May. Yesterday, I had to plug my chrome book into a wifi extender and get a direct signal versus wifi for most of the day. From about 3 pm to 10pm last night my good wifi signal was back. We have cloudy overcast now, so our wifi signal is 4 bars throughout the house.
If that happens is a controlled temp environment without the shaking/bumping from driving, what will happen with the units on the road.
Also, the demand on the main auto batteries with all of this electronic gear can result in a lot of the new high end vehicles needing a professional battery jumpstart or a tow to get the vehicle serviced and all systems realigned.
So, we plan to keep our 12 year old Lexus ES and 6+ year old Honda Ridgeline to avoid these potential problems.