The Man Who Jailbreaks Teslas (fastcompany.com)

harrymcc writes: Normally, a totaled Tesla is worth so little that they sell for peanuts at salvage auctions. But Berkeley, California engineer Phil Sadow buys trashed Tesla cars and gets them up and running again -- a feat which has required him to figure out how to root their software so he can run diagnostics normally unavailable to a tinkerer such as himself. Over at Fast Company, Daniel Terdiman tells the story of Sadow's work, which Tesla is apparently nonplussed about but has not tried to prevent. Slashdot reader Ingineerix also submitted the story, sharing an excerpt from the report: In a cramped warehouse in an industrial neighborhood in Berkeley, California, a Tesla Model 3 is ready to go. It's powered up, its display screen is on, and it's pumping out data. But there are some strange error messages. For one, the passenger door window is uncalibrated. For another, the autopilot electronic control unit is missing. These would be troubling signals for most Tesla owners. For Phil Sadow, though, they make perfect sense. After all, his Model 3 is lacking some very important components: its windows, its wheels, and the entire body frame. For the last three years, Sadow, a 49-year-old electrical engineer who also goes by the moniker Ingineer, has been rebuilding and selling salvaged Teslas. He's also taught a global community of fellow enthusiasts to do the same, charging an hourly rate as a consultant on other tinkerers' repair projects. All told, he says, he's rebuilt -- or helped other people rebuild -- almost 400 vehicles over the last three years.

Comments

Re: right to repair need to give 3rd party's the c

[vtcodger]

I could do without a lot of them including Antilock Braking and Electronic Traction Control which work dismally in ice and snow. But I think you'll have trouble finding many people who want to replace Engine Control Units with Carburetors..

Re: right to repair need to give 3rd party's the c

[andydread]

Aftermarket ECUs are available, but the automakers made sure they aren't street legal.

They are perfectly street legal in many states. You can even pass many state emissions tests while running them. Auto makers do not have much control over that as much as they would love to. I believe they tried to block third-party repair and got slapped down with right-to-repair or something of the sort. The most they can tell me is that my warranty is void because I replaced my ECU with an aftermarket ECU that they know nothing about and I think they should certainly have the right to do that if I replace the ECU with something like Haltech/Motec/Fueltech or any of the number of options available.

Re: right to repair need to give 3rd party's the c

[Anonymous Coward]

ad hominem = useless argument.

You do realize that not all ABS is created equal, which is why a race car ABS system can cost near $10,000 from people like Bosch and the ABS on passenger vehicles is a factor of 10 less expensive.

Also your evaluation of ABS depends on your driving habits just as much as the environment you are exposed to. so anyone's personal anecdotes of ABS is amazing or ABS sucks is absolute BS because most people are talking about different types of systems in different cars under different environmental conditions with different driving styles.

Note: ive never used the ABS in my car because i drive extremely defensively and im pretty lucky to be able to avoid emergency braking scenarios. I guess it comes from appreciating the equation for kinetic energy.

PS: the disabling of traction control is not because people may want to have fun with their cars and spin the tires, it is for situations where traction control can inhibit the vehicle from getting unstuck in deep mud/snow or traveling on uneven terrain. this is because it can interfere with some driving techniques such as Brake-Throttle modulation where you use the brake and throttle pedal together to hit the sweet spot of applied torque to the wheels to get over/out of a situation.