Slashdot Mirror
Connected Cars Don't Necessarily Disconnect Previous Owners When Resold (thedrive.com)
A modern car should be treated like a personal computer. Before you sell it, you should make sure all connections are severed and personal information is wiped before handing the keys to the buyer. The Drive reports of a former Volkswagen owner who recently discovered that her connection to her car lingered even after her old car was sold to a new owner. In what may seem like a public service announcement, The Drive writes: "It's up to you to wipe out your data and connections, not the dealer or manufacturer." From the report: Ashley Sehatti sold her 2015 Jetta back to her local VW dealer back in December. Like most car owners, she figured that was the end of it. So she was baffled when she continued to get monthly reports about her car's health. After receiving April's report, she attempted to log into her account for Car-Net, Volkswagen's connected car service. Much to Sehatti's surprise, she found that not only was her account still active, she still had access to her old car. She could see its current mileage, the status of its locks and lights, and, most disturbingly, its current location on a map. Sehatti was not aware that she, not Volkswagen or her dealer, was responsible for disabling access to Car-Net when she sold the car. Its new owner likely didn't sign up for the Car-Net service, which meant that Sehatti's access remained available, even though she didn't even want it. "Our Car-Net Terms of Service explicitly outlines that as a subscriber, the customer has the responsibility to terminate the contract when selling their vehicle," writes Catharina Mette, the head of technology communications for Volkswagen Group's North Americas region. "This is a practice common in the industry." The takeaway here is to read the Terms of Service because most car owners don't do so in any great detail.
Scissors. Antenna cable. Problem solved. Even if only I have access to the app and web site, the servers themselves (run by the automaker) have access to my car. Why the hell would I let someone else's server have access to my car? The only way I'd allow that is if they allowed use of your own encryption keys. Load an encryption key into the car with a USB, push the same key to your phone and computer. Anyone without the key, including the automaker themselves, shouldn't be able to shut down your car, lock it, unlock it, or read its location. Minus they key, they should only be able to do firmware updates, but only with your permission, at a time scheduled by you.
And if you pair your phone with a rental car, make sure to forbid it from uploading contacts to the car, and to wipe the car's Bluetooth data before you return it.
Why would anyone think signing up for an account meant that account would somehow cease to exist once you no longer owned the car? Not only that, why would one sign up for an account which explicitly links you to your car?
Oh right. Forgot. Because you can have your "smart" phone linked to your car so you can fiddle with apps instead of concentrating on the road.
As has been said about Facebook, you deserve what you get. Stop treating cars like a computer and stick to driving.
As I understand this, it is the responsibility of the seller to terminate the service before selling the car, but if the seller fails to to this, the seller has access to the car's information, including its location, after the sale. This sounds like it would impact the privacy of the new owner, not the seller. In other words party A is responsible for taking steps to protect the privacy of party B. This doesn't sound like a good system. Is there anything a new car owner can do to ensure that no private information (such as location) is leaked to the previous owner?
If I can be modded down for being a troll, can I be modded up for being an orc, or a balrog?
Just check your ego, buy an older OBD2 car, about 2000 (in a rust free area if you live in car cancer country, yes you'll have to travel and likely drive an unfixed beater home), have any worn-out parts professionally rebuilt. Pay someone to install all new suspension bushings (rubber or neoprene, your call) and freshen any ball joints, racks, tie rod ends, brakes etc. The suspension, brakes and steering are non-negotiables. But together they will make it ride better than new (if you break a little bread, note if they want $1000 for a ball joint, installed, just run away. I don't mean 'get burned', I mean 'buy yellow Konis').
People say: 'there will always be another thing breaking.' They are remembering having an old car and being broke, having an old car and having money is an entirely different thing. If you pick the right car, it's systems are very finite. Just a few months worth of car payments will have it all straightened out. Best to just do it right up front. Don't be afraid to spend twice what you paid for it, fixing it. Bottom line will still be next to nothing, pay cash.
Expect at least one thing to be a huge bitch/expensive, it's always something. Broken bolts etc. (Many mechanics will run, they're scared of breaking a bolt and getting stuck fixing it. Honest ones will tell you upfront, e.g. Ford V8: 'I'm not responsible for broken water pump bolts.')
Hell, the whole deal is so cheap these days, you can keep two. Insurance on extra vehicles is cheap! Like ten bucks a month each. An old 4x4 pickup is insanely useful and fun, if you don't have to daily drive it, and can afford 35s or better.
_Don't_ do the paint on at least one, 'city car'. The nicer the car, the faster it gets out of the way of my Civic. Thing just looks uninsured and glued together. Actually mechanically great, interior is clean, just ugly outside. Do gotta watch the cops, that's the downside of projecting dirtbag on the roads, I'm watching anyhow (lead foot).
Many new cars run on 20 weight oil. They won't make 250k miles on an engine. Cars are clearly worse than they used to be. (Now get off my lawn.)
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
Comment removed based on user account deletion
First: Get and learn to interpret a vacuum gauge. Goes for ANY used car purchaser, triple for old cars or when involving a stealership. Old or new, vacuum at idle tells the whole internal engine story, it will save your ass.
Honda, OBD2 pre 2005, 4 banger. Civic, Integra or Accord, matter of taste. I like lite and simple, so Civic (Si or Ex, there were a couple of years of Sis to avoid like plague, early 2000s IIRC, Honda engine and trans were swapping places, Si was out of step, ugly kludges were involved.). No sixs, Honda sixs suck. Absolutely nothing with an active engine mount! 4 door civics are practically pickups. With the back seat down, they haul 2x4s and pretty much any straight stock you have the nerve to tie down and red flag. A 2005 Honda is going to have a lot of life left in it, you'll be able to put off messing with the engine, if auto, transmission hasn't got much left in it.
Look for a straight body, no salvage titles or major wrecks (even if apparently nicely repaired), runner so you can test drive it. Everything is getting fixed anyhow, but you want to be able to drive it/take it to your mechanic.
Depending on the car, consider keeping the 95, get the issues addressed. Cover another 'car role'* with the next one. Keep the 95 to drive into the city, make it look not worth stealing, 3 colors of primer. If you have two cars, you can tolerate a little/lot (YMMV) less reliable ones.
* 'car role': city car, commuter, street racer, 4x4, classic, track day, exotic, silly, demo derby, 24 hours of lemons etc. You do have a six car garage?
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
The dealer is totally trying to dodge responsibility for their own failure. This wasn't a private sale. She sold it back to the dealer, and then they sold it to someone else. Without making any effort to disable her access or check that she had disabled it. So they sold someone a car, knowing perfectly well the previous owner might have the ability to track its every movement. Do you think they warned the new owner about that? That they got his permission? That they told him how to prevent it? I'd bet quite a bit they didn't. They just sold a product that illegally infringed the buyer's privacy, and now they're trying to wiggle out of getting blamed.
"I'm too busy to research this and form an educated opinion, but I do have time to tell everyone my uninformed opinion."
A car I rented last year still had the bluetooth connection info for at least two previous renters. Including parts of their phone contact list, and text messages (car had a feature which would read your texts out loud to you while you were driving).
No need to replace ball joints if they aren't malfunctioning. And it's not THAT big a job on many cars although it may require a $100 Harbor Freight ball joint press (basically a HUUGE C-Clamp) that most of us don't have in our garage.
If you are dealing with a cute little pass car, then sure. If you need to do ball joints on a real vehicle like say a Sprinter, then that $100 press isn't going to do the job. I know this because I've done it. I actually got one of them out, but the press was bending before it went. I had to take the arm to my local shop and get them to press out the other one because it just wouldn't do it. I had to make a tool to hold the arm while I pressed it out, too.
The oil weight thing is bullshit, though. Synthetics cling to expose surfaces better, so that takes care of startup wear. And oil thickness is based on tolerances. They're using more durable alloys. Just keep your oil changed, and use a quality filter.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"