Slashdot Mirror
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.
Under the Magnusson-Moss Warranty Act, they can only void specific parts of the warranty -- and even then, the impetus is on the manufacturer to prove that the alteration caused the defect being claimed under warranty.
The narrative that goes "If you touch it, your warranty is gone" is simply a falsehood and has been for quite a long time. This way of thinking needs to stop.
Your Haltech/Motec/Fueltec might be blamed for burnt exhaust valves, and GM/whoever would probably have an easy time denying a claim for replacement of those valves under warranty by proving it was the modification that caused the defect.
But your third-party ECU has nothing to do with the sunroof's warranted operation. Your big brake upgrade has nothing to do with your engine's warranty. Your upgraded radiator has nothing to do with the stock water pump shitting the bed -- they owe you a water pump unless they can prove that your improved radiator (and whatever other changes) somehow managed to nuke a simple water pump.
Kid-proof tablet..
Sure it is possible to make bad ABS or ETC, but my experience doesn't match yours. I have driven cars with no ABS on snow - go slow or go off-road occationally. Ok for a race where you have to be first to win, racers have to take their chances. Not ok for a commuter in a country with 4 months of snowy roads.
ABS on ice does not improve stopping distance, but it avoids the sliding. The steering wheel is useless if the front wheels locks. My experience is that one can simply stand on the brake with ABS, and still be able to steer the car. (Unless it is going so fast that steering alone is enough to cause sliding.) ABS makes it easier. An expert driver can match ABS performance on roads that are uniformly slippery. But 'average Joe' is not such an expert, and most people 'panic brake' when something really surprising happens. Then, ABS saves the day. And when the road is not uniform, i.e. two wheels on ice and two on asphalt - ABS rules, full brake power on one side and some on the other.
It is the same with electronic traction control. Anti-spin makes it simpler to go uphill on ice - the wheelspin is cut much earlier and you loose less speed than using manual control only. You can still avoid wheelspin manually, by driving so ETC doesn't trigger. ETC will also correct small slides by braking single wheels at the right moment. Slightly too much speed into an icy curve, ETC fixes it. Way too much speed into that curve, and you're doomed anyway. Where I live, you couldn't charge a premium for an ETC that needs to be turned off in icy conditions. Icy conditions are every winter, and is considered the only time anyone could have a real need for ETC. (Mud or gravel is easy, compared to ice!)
I know you are trying to be funny, but that's only the number I've helped to get back on the road. Their salvage car blacklist is about 1400 cars now. Based on how many I have in that list, I'd say there are at least 4000 Salvage Teslas now.