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Ferrari is bricked during upgrade due to no mobile reception while underground

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Re: Ferrari is bricked during upgrade due to no mobile reception while underground

#51

Post by coding_unit_1 »

bigwavedave wrote: post #34
notsuoh wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, but I think the broader point I'd that a car shouldn't be disabled like this in the first place due to no reception.

The car wasn't disabled because it lost reception, it was disabled because of an anti-tampering device that activated when the owner tried to install a child car seat (admittedly, what they did to install a child seat that set off the tamper switch baffles me). It remained disabled because the remote support team couldn't fix it since the parking garage was underground and had no cell reception.

The posts on reddit said it went into some uber-lockdown because it also didn't have reception so even adding cell or wifi repeaters wouldn't have worked.

My guess is this some serious anti-theft for when your very expensive car gets stuffed in a shipping container - it bricks itself until you present it physically at a dealer (at which point you'd hope it gets flagged as stolen).

Re: Ferrari is bricked during upgrade due to no mobile reception while underground

#52

Post by gruez »

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #45
sollewitt wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alternative answer: because the market for what you want is too small relative to the cost of producing the thing you want.

Except that the cost of producing that is not actually high. Individuals have built cars out of parts in their own garage. You don't think there is anyone willing to make millions of dollars by producing a thousand of them for the thousand people who want them? But not if the fixed regulatory overhead is equal to the margin on twenty thousand cars.

>Except that the cost of producing that is not actually high. Individuals have built cars out of parts in their own garage.

"Individuals have built cars out of parts in their own garage" doesn't really prove that the costs for producing a car isn't high. They're most certainly enthusiasts, and they could have plowed tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of parts/labor into it.

Re: Ferrari is bricked during upgrade due to no mobile reception while underground

#53

Post by danparsonson »

callamdelaney wrote: post #38
gambiting wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think preventing your car from being stolen is an extremely basic issue - it's a risk that exists at the back of your mind constantly when you drive an expensive vehicle, so yeah, I'm glad the car does this. The situation in here is more like "haha, ok, we just need to tow this thing out of the garage and try again" - no big deal.

I agree with gambiting. Yeah, it sucks, but just tow your car outside and turn it on again. These things exist for a reason. If it had really been stolen, and there was the work around of 'oh, there's no signal so we'll let the car start and drive off' - then a thief could permanently jam that signal, or remove the electronic device responsible for receiving that signal. E.g, it's not perfect but it is secure.

> ...just toe your car outside...

Hehe I wouldn't normally pick up on typos but this a great one - "tow" your car outside, unless maybe you're planning to kick it out there :-)

Re: Ferrari is bricked during upgrade due to no mobile reception while underground

#54

Post by Sebb767 »

mywittyname wrote: post #39
reaperducer wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

people who are designing these things are not considering some of the most basic issues Is replacing the seats in your car basic?

OP clarifies in the thread that this was for a child seat installation. And I think that qualifies as something that's pretty basic.

In a Honda Accord, yes. In a Ferrari, though?

Re: Ferrari is bricked during upgrade due to no mobile reception while underground

#55

Post by LeonM »

1cvmask wrote: post #4

The bricking shows that all these “smart” cars with remote software control are liable to hacking (and potentially deadly accidents). We should have a choice to turn them off selectively. The worst part is that car companies don’t understand software and digital security. https://www.wired.com/2015/07/hackers-remotely-kill-jeep-hig...

> The bricking shows that all these “smart” cars with remote software control are liable to hacking

No, it does not.

The way I read the article, the photo is taken at the installation facility where (presumably aftermarket) seats were being installed. The car disabled itself during installation. It was not driving. It was also not "hacked" remotely. I assume the installer also had the key at hand.

A certified dealership will have the computer interface and software to reset the anti-theft mode. For those that do not have this software, Ferrari can remote into the car and reset it for you. This requires connectivity though.

Re: Ferrari is bricked during upgrade due to no mobile reception while underground

#56

Post by OJFord »

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #45
sollewitt wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alternative answer: because the market for what you want is too small relative to the cost of producing the thing you want.

Except that the cost of producing that is not actually high. Individuals have built cars out of parts in their own garage. You don't think there is anyone willing to make millions of dollars by producing a thousand of them for the thousand people who want them? But not if the fixed regulatory overhead is equal to the margin on twenty thousand cars.

I think the main thing is safety.

On the face of it I'm with you, but then when it came down to it I'd be thinking well hang on this actually doesn't seem as safe (or at least not as thoroughly tested to determine if it is) as these other mass-produced things, and wouldn't end up buying it.

If it was easy to make something as safe as a $modern_run_of_the_mill_family_car and that looked 'normal' (i.e. curvy, I suppose, not weird slabs of barely bent sheet metal) I think there'd be loads of Kickstarter campaigns 'basic'/'maintainable'/.. cars.

Re: Ferrari is bricked during upgrade due to no mobile reception while underground

#57

Post by AnthonyMouse »

gambiting wrote: post #26
mannykannot wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It tells us that the people who are designing these things are not considering some of the most basic issues.

I think preventing your car from being stolen is an extremely basic issue - it's a risk that exists at the back of your mind constantly when you drive an expensive vehicle, so yeah, I'm glad the car does this. The situation in here is more like "haha, ok, we just need to tow this thing out of the garage and try again" - no big deal.

> The situation in here is more like "haha, ok, we just need to tow this thing out of the garage and try again" - no big deal.

No big deal when the reason you can't get a signal is that you're in a parking garage. Rather more of a life-threatening defect when the reason you can't get a signal is that you're driving through an unpopulated desert where there are no cell towers or other people.

Re: Ferrari is bricked during upgrade due to no mobile reception while underground

#58

Post by dehrmann »

PJDK wrote: post #12

Reading through it seems like people are misinterpreting this. By my reading the car has an anti-theft device that was triggered by the installation of seats. There is a remote system to override the anti-theft device, but that doesn't work because it requires mobile reception. It's kind of funny, but this doesn't really tell you anything about the dangers of "smart cars" or anything.

TIL the first thing car thieves do is replace the seats.

Re: Ferrari is bricked during upgrade due to no mobile reception while underground

#59

Post by AnthonyMouse »

gruez wrote: post #52
AnthonyMouse wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except that the cost of producing that is not actually high. Individuals have built cars out of parts in their own garage. You don't think there is anyone willing to make millions of dollars by producing a thousand of them for the thousand people who want them? But not if the fixed regulatory overhead is equal to the margin on twenty thousand cars.

>Except that the cost of producing that is not actually high. Individuals have built cars out of parts in their own garage. "Individuals have built cars out of parts in their own garage" doesn't really prove that the costs for producing a car isn't high. They're most certainly enthusiasts, and they could have plowed tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of parts/labor into it.

People are clearly willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars to buy a new car. That's how much they cost.

Re: Ferrari is bricked during upgrade due to no mobile reception while underground

#60

Post by rndgermandude »

bigwavedave wrote: post #34
notsuoh wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, but I think the broader point I'd that a car shouldn't be disabled like this in the first place due to no reception.

The car wasn't disabled because it lost reception, it was disabled because of an anti-tampering device that activated when the owner tried to install a child car seat (admittedly, what they did to install a child seat that set off the tamper switch baffles me). It remained disabled because the remote support team couldn't fix it since the parking garage was underground and had no cell reception.

The poster of the reddit thread clarified it wasn't swapping out seats, it was a child seat installation.
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