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Cell Phones Disable Keys for High-End Cars
Geoffrey.landis writes "Turns out if you have a top-end Nissan car, your cellphone may erase your car key. '"We discovered that if the I-Key touches a cellphone, outgoing or incoming calls have the potential to alter the electronic code inside the I-Key," Nissan spokesman Kyle Bazemore said. "The car won't start and the I-Key cannot be reprogrammed."'"
but now you can hotwire it with your cellphone and you don't have to lug around that pesky coathanger
I miss the days when you could put your cellphone in the same pocket as your car keys.
A safety ad here runs the slogan (roughly translated) "Car and Cell don't mix well". It actually promotes abstaining from using your cell while driving, but in this light, it gets a whole new meaning...
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
At least nowadays there are far more fun and entertaining ways to disable someone's car. I do it to drunk friends all the time. If they want to drive, I usually take their fuel injection system fuse. I'll have to add "fry nissan keys with cellphone" to my list of things to do to cars to keep them stationary.
The problem wasn't the wiring in the car.
The problem was that your mom owns a Ford.
A friend of mine his dad purchased a Honda S2000 the garage was next to the kitchen. Well when they turned on the microwave it set off the alarm. The cars' keys would always have to be next to the microwave because of the "feature". When he called Honda then told him to buy a different microwave. I fould it hilarious.
~
Nissan should simply state, that the car owners only bought the right to use a specific version of the key, and that they'll have to buy a new car, if they ruin the old key.
We do not live in the 21st century. We live in the 20 second century.
The new mechanical engine in modern cars is ridiculous, especially when you think about how often mechanical engines break and how easily they're broken.
My mom has a ford Model T, there have been engine problems and the engine has failed on two separate occasions. They had to completely replace the engine!
I can understand that putting mechanical engines in cars seems like a good idea, but it's not.
It's DANGEROUS!
Think of all those poor out of work horses and buggy whip manufacturers now!
That's ok, I usually drive and use a laptop instead of a cellphone.
Join the TWIT army now!
"The car won't start and the I-Key cannot be reprogrammed."
Obviously it CAN be reprogrammed, or else they wouldn't have this problem to begin with.
if you're going to try to sound like a trolling mac user, please for the love of god remember, it's not PC. That's too easy. It's PEEEEECEEEEE(or your favorite number of "E"s to put in there).
Thank you.
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
A base model Altima is high end?
What exactly is a mid range car?
Don't bring logic into this!
PeeCee users are listening.
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
I can understand that putting electronics in cars seems like a good idea, but it's not.
That's why I like not having any electronics in my car. Oh, wait, I think the indicators use an electronic flasher unit, but it's not like anyone else around here signals when they're turning.
It's possible that the chip is designed to fail under certain circumstances to prevent reverse engineering.
I know there are crypto chips that can destroy themselves using chemical agents stored inside the packaging. It's not easy to find out much detail about them for some reason.
I've got a new 2007 Altima. The key dongle thingy (you call it what you want, I'll call it what I want) comes apart and there's an actual normal key in there that will allow you to open the driver door and glove box. You need the electronic part of the key to start the car because it has push-button ignition. Nice to know that it's a high-end car!
Sorry, but Macintosh's were NEVER PCs. They are however a Personal Computer, and always have been. You see, PC is shortened version of IBM PC Compatible. While yes, PC in IBM PC stood for Personal Computer, the term PC never applied to Macintosh (or Amigas, Sun, DEC Alpha or other "personal" computers). So while you think you are being either funny or cleaver, you are in fact showing your ignorance (or arrogance).
Next time, keep your troll to yourself.
HELP!! This thread has been hijacked and transported to Usenet circa 1990!!!
Does she own a Nissan, by any chance?
im in ur
Are you using the original engine or Mr. Fusion?
(The plutonium engine occurred to me also, but if plutonium passes the emissions test, the inspectors are slacking off.)
There is a fine line between recklessness and courage... -- Paul McCartney
haha....
I mean "It's a god-damn satchel!"
Cheap storage VM.
You are lucky. My car started hesitating, getting lousy gas mileage, and the exhaust smelled like gas. I hooked it up to a code scanner and it said "Fuel mixture rich." No kidding, I never would have guessed that.
So I took it to a shop that had one of the multi-thousand dollar diagnostic systems from the manufacturer. The mechanic hooked it up and, you guessed it, "Fuel mixture rich."
Chevrolet Prism (=Toyota Corolla), BTW.
The masses are the crack whores of religion.
With either type of chipped key, the cost of replacing the key is very high. I am reminded of an incident I witnessed about 3-4 years ago at my Lexus dealer while I was waiting for service to be finished on my car: In comes a fellow, all excited that he had just managed to buy a nice Lexus for a ridiculously low price at a police auction. (No doubt it was a vehicle confiscated from a drug dealer or something.) Trouble was, the car he bought had no key with it. He came into the dealer with the VIN hoping to get a replacement key issued. The parts man did a lot of manual searching, and catalog thumbing and told the man the cost of a new key would be $3000+! Seems not only a new key was needed, but a complete replacement of the main computer module for the car. I don't know when I have seen someone more disappointed and frustrated as the fellow who got such a good deal on the Lexus.
here in australia, one of the most popular cars (the holden commodore) can be opened with a house key... they kind of fixed the problem with the latest models. now all need is a screwdriver.
Well Said, Gareth.
You carry keys!?!?!? You knuckle dragger! Get yourself a driver =P
Honda's may not be butt ugly (it's not the Aztek or the xB at least), but they do lose points for always taking the most generic and boring styling decisions at every opportunity. If you ask someone to draw a "generic car", they're going to draw an Accord.
I read the internet for the articles.