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Is Hacking Cars a Thing of the Past?
"Ever since electronic ignitions, and especially ones controlled by computers, it seems the "hackability" and user-maintainability of cars has been declining. Your neighborhood grease monkey can't do much to a modern car without a bunch of electronic gear interfacing to the car's computer. It's almost a little anti-competitive.
Carbeurators, and the other mechanical systems which were fairly standard and visible and self-evident, really seem to be the equivalent of "open source", while the new computer-based systems seem to be more closed and proprietary. I know in the early days of cars with computers, there were third party ROM upgrades for performance tweaking; I'm guessing that's falling by the wayside more and more, as these systems get more and more complex.
It almost seems like a Microsoft-like statement, to tell you they're doing all of this to reduce theft, while really they're doing it to ensure you are forced into coming back to their dealerships..."
Is a car's antitheft device even a deterrent to car theives? They can still bust in your window and take all your CDs and be out of there in a matter of seconds. Then you're still out the cost of new windows.
Most good car theives would look for cars WITH alarms as they would be able to get some cash for that part too. I takes about ten seconds for someone to smash the window, rip out the alarm system/turn it off and hotwiring the car isn't that big of a deal as I've seen some really organized car theft in my time using a tow truck...
Hire me...
Is to make more money for the dealers. I think that we are moving into many diffrent incompatible car computers that all are worked diffrently so a mechanic cant service more then 1 or 2 diffrent types. Bringing about the death of independent mechanics and the rise of the dealerships. Then again I could be paranoid.
Besides, installing a remote car starter isn't my idea of a real hack. How is that any more of a "hack" than installing a new car radio? Obviously, you weren't able to bypass the security system, so you're not much of a hacker.
And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
To mold a new reality... closer to the heart
Really the only thing you need from the key is the VATS chip off of it. You really don't need a functioning key to make things work. Electric current goes through the chip, and if the car doesn't receive the correct change in current, the car doesn't start. Requiring a key with VATS doesn't do much for the professional car theif or the theif with access to a dealership with a corrupt car parts guy (imagine that).
Reb
My car, a '99 Olds Alero, has the same thing. It's a nice feature, especially considering I live in the car theft capital of Canada (Regina). It can be a pain for things like car starters and getting extra keys made, but overall I like the idea.
Call your dealer and ask the cost should you lose all your keys. Duplicating cost is small (if you call $80-$100 small), but often times the cost to start over with no keys can exceed several thousand dollars. Definitely worth the $80 to buy a spare for your safe deposit box.
The chip in the key is required to trigger the anti-theft system, but the key itself isn't needed. You could cut the metal tongue off the key, rendering it useless for actually turning the starter, while the chip would still work.
You would, of course, be essentially disabling that part of the anti-theft system, but thieves now have ways around it anyway. If the key profile is identical to pre-chipped versions, it would also mean you could run your car with a non-chipped key, which is a lot easier to fit on your keychain.
As for third-party ROM upgrades, these things are falling by the wayside because, among other reasons, most onboard computers use EEPROMS now, and when most people monkey with their engines they just wind up wrecking the timing and trashing the performance anyway.
And there's not reason to compare everything you dislike to Microsoft. That radio keylock is a Honda option, nobody forced you to buy it, nobody is keeping you from removing that option from your car, and so on. A little time with a pair of diags and a soldering iron will remove the problem forever.
As for leaving a spare key installed, what makes you think that's less secure than installing a remote starter? I built a little gadget not six months ago. It's a lot of fun. I go into a mall parking lot and press a button. A couple of 555 timers start cranking... and a few seconds later so do all the tricked-out imports in the parking lot. Granted, I still can't get in the vehicles, but I sure can start 'em up.
In conclusion, if you want to play with your engine, or your ignition system, or whatever, buy a car you know how to work on. If you buy a 2002 model and can't figure out how to monkey with it, don't blame the auto manufacturer for knowing more about cars than you.
REM Old programmers don't die. They just GOSUB without RETURN.
There was an article about this topic in the Boston Sunday Globe this week. But the author of the article doesn't necessarily cry over the recently announced demise of cars like the Camaro and the Firebird. In order to get another 50 horsepower out of one of those beasts meant "boring out the cylinders, tinkering with valves, changing pistons ... a greasy, lengthy job." With the new "tuner cars" all you've got to do is drop in a $500 tuner chip.
Now, this is hacking cars.. ;)
Gentoo Sucks
I love hacking cars. Saddly here in the USA there is less of a modern-car hacking cultrure. In the USA we've *mostly* got old hot-rodders with carbed V8's, and kids with big-wing/big-exhaust otherwise-stock imports. Not many people are doing MODERN performacne hacking, but there are some.
Many other countries have a real strong culture in this area though. For an example, go to Autospeed, an Australian site where they post weekly articles about auto performance and electronics hacking. Australia is a real hot-spot for this stuff. It doesn't matter that the auto manufacturers are making more complex and advanced products - it just promotes the creation of more brilliant hacks.
If you're interested in programable engine management, adding electonic accessories, etc. all you have to do is dig a little and you'll find a whole world of resources. Just like Tivo, DirectTV, Audrey, or anything else - If you build it people will hack it.
-=-=-=-=- osjedi uses Debian GNU/Linux. -=-=-=-=-
The GM device you refer to is really pretty simple. The little "chip" embedded in the key is just a resistor. The ignition switch contains a simple ohmmeter that checks to see if the proper key has been inserted, if not it disables the fuel pump for a few minutes. This link explains a bit about how it works. a bit of Google searching will turn up lots more links that describe the system.
I don't want free as in beer. I just want free beer.
You think ODB-II is screwing us, wait till OBD-III goes live. Here are some of the features as stated by the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA).
/citation)
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OBD-III TECHNOLOGIES
Three ways to send/receive data:
Roadside reader
Local station network
Satellite
---
That's right, a radio link to tell big brother where you are, and what your car is doing. Why??
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ENFORCEMENT MECHANISMS
Incorporate into biennial I/M program
Read fault code to screen for vehicles that need complete testing
Pass or short test for vehicles with no fault code
Does not speed up repair process
Out-of-cycle inspection
Compile and screen data
Mail notice to vehicle owner requiring out-of-cycle inspection within 10 days
Require Certificate of Compliance (C of C) on next registration/resale, or
Require C of C within 30-60 days, with citation for noncompliance
Enforce citation via court and/or DMV penalty at next registration
Roadside Pullover
CHP flags down vehicles with fault codes
Technician verifies problem by inspecting and/or testing vehicle
Issuance of notice requiring out-of-cycle inspection
Same enforcement (C of C
---
On the other hand they also realise that there are legal issues by this statement on their site.
---
OBD-III raises 4th Amendment search and seizure privacy issues:
''The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated...''
---
But afterwards state that the OBD system should be leagal because it's a nondiscrimitory, mass population product. Whereas the 4th amendment only protects individual privacy and not a group of individuals.
Read more about this at
Sema web site
-- this space for rent --
Acually, cars are not harder to work on, its just that more sophisticated equipment is needed. IMHO, computer controlled vehicles have taken the skill out of auto repair, now you plug a diagnostic tool into the on boad diagnostic module, it leads you to the problem...so instead of a tech, you've got a parts swapper...
e ch 2.html
All vehicles are required to comply with OBD-II, which is a standard for the way the vehicle monitors performance and emissions. This creates a strict set of parameters for vehicle operations...performance modifications often take the vehicle out of these parameters and causes the control system to report a problem...if the discrepency is great enough, the vehicle will often go into "limp-in" mode, shutting down all systems other than those necessary for the vehicle to drive to the nearest service station...
Here's a good summary of OBD-II
http://www.bergen.org/AAST/Projects/ES/TA/prest
BTW - I like 1962 Lincoln Continentals...
LOL, thats an interesting assesment. At a local car show I was near the security booth when one man came to report his 1969 camaro was stolen and he couldn't figure out how it was stolen since he had the rotor out of the distributor in his pocket. Literally within 5 minutes another man came in to report that someone stole the rotor out of the distributor on his chevy truck.
Now I'm laughing since I read the same story in a car-mag (think it was Carcraft) a few months ago.
Back on-topic, the best way to prevent your nearly new car from being stolen is to wire a hidden switch into the fuel pump circuit. Forget about clubs, they won't stop someone who's determined.
If you shut off the fuel pump circuit when you park, the sequence of events when a thief steals your car will be as follows:
1) they break into the car (well duh!)
2) they break off any clubs, etc
3) they break the ignition lock
4) start the car (it will still start without the pump)
5) they drive about 50 feet and the car stalls (no more fuel)
Now, the thief is totally exposed with onlookers wondering why he stopped his car in the middle of the parking lot. You can bet that he'll run for it since he can't futz around with so much attention.
The key is to make sure the kill switch is hidden or non-obvious. I've seen friends use the cigarette lighter (they didn't smoke) as the switch. Pretty sneaky eh?
Although my insurance company won't give me a discount for this "anti-theft" system, I'd rather still have my car than a few more bucks in my pocket.
I've been hacking on cars (old and new) for 20 years and this is the best anti-theft system I've thought of for cars with electric fuel pumps.
GRH
As a heavy modder of my own 97 OBD-II computer controlled car I can say without a doubt that it is now EASIER to hack a car then ever. Before when you wanted to do a change to the car which might effect mixture (it seemed like EVERYTHING effected it) you had to go through the effort to rejet the carb and even then it was a compromise between running the ragged edge of destruction and being fast. You had to worry about weather changes, altitude changes, etc
Now with computer control the variables are handled, changing fuel ratio is as easy as tuning a knob or changing a parm in a laptop.
Sure it requires a different set of tools, tools which might make the average greese monkey who has never worked on anything more moden then a carbed 5.0 motor cring in fear, but the fact is the data that is available via the ECU, and the ease with which engine parms can be changed is way better then before. Modern diagnostics make troubleshooting disturbingly easy.
And lets not forget the actual engines themselves are not all that different. The only "new" fangled thing is variable cam timing and even that is still just a "variation" hehe of a theme. you still have to get air in, and as much of it as possible, inject the right amount of fuel, ignite the spark at the right time, and get rid of all the burnt gas.
In the old days you could only make course adjustments that effected the entire operating range of the motor. And you can still do that today. But today you also have the ability to optimize the entire range of operation with no sacrifices. Some might call the complicated, I call that elegance and simplicity because now I can just do what I want and not have to think about striking a balance.
No. Cars are EASIER today then they were 15 years ago. When I can spend $95 on a Palm M100 and $165 on a cable and software to be able to interface with my cars computer don't tell me it is too expensive either. Just admit that you aren't willing to learn something new and you can't think outside your own self-imposed box. Cause it isn't that complicated and the basic principles of an internal combustion engine haven't changed.
Hell I know guys who are able to mod their cars to go fast who I know darn well couldn't work on a carb, or time a distributor to save their life. But they sure can punch a number into a laptop.
If you can't be good, be good at it!
...to drive with vegetable oil - real rapeseed or sunflower oil which is normally used for salads or cooking. Some people even filter oil used for making french fries or hamburgers and drive their cars with it.
In general, vegoil is much thicker than mineral diesel, requiring the fuel system to work harder - the injection pump might break after some time, or the injectors become dirty by inefficiently combusted fuel. So they heat the vegoil before giving it into the injection system. If you have ever put some oil into a pan and heated it, you'll know why - it's getting thin like water and much easier for the diesel engine to handle. Heat is being provided by electrical equipment, similar to a coffee-maker, or by the engine's watercooling system.
There is a community who shares experiences, plans and reports about their modifications on "http://www.fmso.de/" (in German), in a way which is quite similar to the free-software development most of us are familiar with. AFAIK in other countries like France or the UK there is a "vegoil community", too.
Sheer horsepower is not the main reason - most of them drive old non-turbo diesel engines with 50 or 60 hp, and these things don't really become faster with vegoil (there are a few ones who even hack their new TDI (Audi/VW) or CDI (Mercedes) engines - they _are_ hackable if you know how). However, vegoil is much cheaper (EUR 0.45/l) than mineral diesel (EUR 0.80/l), and it is neutral on carbondioxide - the engines spit at most the amount of CO2 into the atmosphere which the oil plants have consumed a year ago. Particles and toxic pollutions are much lower with vegoil than with dino diesel. Yet the main reason for most of these people to hack their cars is "just for fun".
BTW no one of them has a remote-controlled engine starter - these things are illegal in Germany because of unnecessarily polluting the air. If you want to have a warm car on a freezy winter morning, use a combustive or electrical (AC-powered) heating system.
I know this comment will never get read...
But there's no need to buy the expensive modules the remote starter company says is required for transponder key setups... their $20-$30 adapter is actual nothing except 3 wires, a relay and a spare key.