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Right-to-Repair causes Subaru to disable telematics in Massachusetts

thetruthaboutcars.com

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Re: Right-to-Repair causes Subaru to disable telematics in Massachusetts

#41

Post by tssva »

rurp wrote: post #29

Somewhat related to this, I've recently been shopping for a new car to replace my current Subaru that I've had for over a decade. It's been a great car so I figured I'd get another Subaru but, man, some of the newer "features" have completely turned me off to the company. One is a system called DriverFocus that monitors the drivers face, runs some sort of facial recognition software, and alerts anytime it doesn't thi…

Subaru has a long history of questionable safety features which can't be turned off. My parents used to have a 1983 Subaru GL sedan. It had a digital display. If you exceeded 55 Mph, the US national maximum speed limit at the time, redlines would appear beneath the speedometer digits and a buzzer would sound as long as the speed exceeded 55. There was no official way to disable the buzzer although I'm sure some enterprising people found non Subaru approved ways to do so.

Re: Right-to-Repair causes Subaru to disable telematics in Massachusetts

#42

Post by [deleted] »

lttlrck wrote: post #34
rurp wrote: post #29

Somewhat related to this, I've recently been shopping for a new car to replace my current Subaru that I've had for over a decade. It's been a great car so I figured I'd get another Subaru but, man, some of the newer "features" have completely turned me off to the company. One is a system called DriverFocus that monitors the drivers face, runs some sort of facial recognition software, and alerts anytime it doesn't thi…

My 2013 E350 MB monitors driver alertness through steering, brake and throttle input alone. And it's surprisingly good, facial recognition is not required. The only time it gets triggered is when I'm doing late night or very early morning driving, when you'd expect deteriorated attention - I don't feel drowsy so it's beeping is quite annoying but that's the whole point...

[deleted]

Re: Right-to-Repair causes Subaru to disable telematics in Massachusetts

#43

Post by WarOnPrivacy »

userbinator wrote: post #36
advael wrote: post #30

I may never buy a new car again. Literally zero “smart” features that have ever been advertised in cars sound like a net benefit to my use case, but they all sound like a massive breach of my privacy and sometimes even autonomy. I support every law that makes this sort of telemetry and tracking harder - up to and including completely illegal - and don’t care in the slightest if it destroys the extant industry altoget…

I've "smartened" my ~50-year-old daily driver with a bunch of electronics and various upgrades. There's plenty of options in the aftermarket, which you have complete control over. Or put another way, I'd rather have more smiles per gallon than miles per gallon...

> I've "smartened" my ~50-year-old daily driver with a bunch of electronics and various upgrades.

Got a 69 XL, a 63 Dart and a 61 Sunliner. How they were made is the entire point.

Re: Right-to-Repair causes Subaru to disable telematics in Massachusetts

#44

Post by WarOnPrivacy »

rootsudo wrote: post #33
dreamcompiler wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's exactly the fix I want: Make it impossible for the software to know it's been disabled. It should behave as if the car is perpetually in a tunnel. I don't care if it stops maps from being downloaded--most cars have vastly inferior navigation software compared to phones.

That is a great idea, just make it think it's always in a tunnel. alternatively you can flash the computer to basic trim or international models. On Ford, it's quite easy to remove. But for Mercedes/BMW I doubt so, even 20yrs ago they had advanced telematics/telephone/sos that integrated nicely into everything. One example: https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/disabling-fordpass... you can find more via good old…

Bob's site is endlessly useful.

Re: Right-to-Repair causes Subaru to disable telematics in Massachusetts

#45

Post by wpietri »

rurp wrote: post #29

Somewhat related to this, I've recently been shopping for a new car to replace my current Subaru that I've had for over a decade. It's been a great car so I figured I'd get another Subaru but, man, some of the newer "features" have completely turned me off to the company. One is a system called DriverFocus that monitors the drivers face, runs some sort of facial recognition software, and alerts anytime it doesn't thi…

Huh. I sometimes drive a 2017 Outback and I was shocked at how annoying its "helpful" systems are. No matter what problem it thinks is going on, its response is to beep annoyingly in various amounts. With, as you say, a lot of false positives. The thing makes me twitchy. I was thinking, "well, maybe it's a relatively new feature". I'm very sorry to hear they've gotten worse!

Re: Right-to-Repair causes Subaru to disable telematics in Massachusetts

#46

Post by devilbunny »

advael wrote: post #30

I may never buy a new car again. Literally zero “smart” features that have ever been advertised in cars sound like a net benefit to my use case, but they all sound like a massive breach of my privacy and sometimes even autonomy. I support every law that makes this sort of telemetry and tracking harder - up to and including completely illegal - and don’t care in the slightest if it destroys the extant industry altoget…

I posted a similar comment elsewhere. No tracking. No smarts to speak of - I do like Bluetooth, but I put a basic aftermarket Bluetooth unit in my 20-year-old car back when it was only 10 years old, and I'm still using the same one. Tactile volume knob. Physical controls for heating and cooling. I do have to take the key out of my pocket to push the remote entry button and put it in the ignition to start it (though if I really wanted to, I could get an aftermarket that would make it act like a modern push-to-start). I would like heated and ventilated seats, but really - other than creature comforts like that, and modern safety features like ABS and crumple zones, I'm perfectly happy with a 1975 user interface for my car.

Re: Right-to-Repair causes Subaru to disable telematics in Massachusetts

#47

Post by landemva »

allenrb wrote: post #18
hchasestevens wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alternatively: without this new source of revenue, auto manufacturers will be less able to compete on price and maintain the same margins. As a consumer, I don't get to decide whether I'd like a "repairable" car that doesn't harvest my data for $X, or am willing to settle for a data-harvesting, proprietary vehicle for $(X - Y) - the state has made that choice on my behalf and decided the latter should be illegal to s…

Also, by prohibiting poor people from selling their own organs, it is more difficult for these folks to make ends meet in the short term. That doesn’t sound like good reasoning to me.

A few years ago the feminist mantra was 'my body my choice'.

Are people free or not?

Re: Right-to-Repair causes Subaru to disable telematics in Massachusetts

#48

Post by landemva »

ungawatkt wrote: post #11
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #7

> Numerous automakers (e.g. General Motors) have likewise shown presentations stating that data acquisition would soon become an important revenue source for the industry. Does anyone have any links referencing these presentations? I know selling data to data brokers is a hot topic, but from my (extremely limited) exposure to this topic in the industry I got the impression that the actual value of such data was almos…

Speculation, but the obvious market to me is insurance providers. I'd think that data is worth a decent amount to them, both for good and bad reasons.

I think the obvious customers are IRS and FBI, who pay for data with our money.

Re: Right-to-Repair causes Subaru to disable telematics in Massachusetts

#49

Post by ploxiln »

monkeybutton wrote: post #40
rurp wrote: post #29

Somewhat related to this, I've recently been shopping for a new car to replace my current Subaru that I've had for over a decade. It's been a great car so I figured I'd get another Subaru but, man, some of the newer "features" have completely turned me off to the company. One is a system called DriverFocus that monitors the drivers face, runs some sort of facial recognition software, and alerts anytime it doesn't thi…

The manual transmission versions of their models are lacking many of these new features because they are not compatible. Its almost enough to make me want to learn.

You should! It makes driving more interesting and fun, even many years later. It's only really annoying in bumper-to-bumper stop-and-go traffic.

Re: Right-to-Repair causes Subaru to disable telematics in Massachusetts

#50

Post by grishka »

dmitrygr wrote: post #21
dreamcompiler wrote: post #19

Has anybody built a website with easy instructions for finding and disabling the cellular modems in various models of cars?

Predictably, manufacturers keep making this harder and harder. They make money from the data and don't want to lose that. In my old corvette, it was a simple as pulling fuse 27. In the 2022 model that breaks other things (compass, Bluetooth), so I’m going to go find the lte antenna connectors and replace them with 50ohm resistors whenever I have a free weekend next.

It does have to have a SIM card somewhere in it, right? Can't you just pull that out? And if it refuses to work without one, put a SIM card that's disconnected or is from a foreign country.
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