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What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

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Re: What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

#161

Post by karlgkk »

Simran-B wrote: post #117
afh1 wrote: post #25

The scary part is not the GPS installed by the fleet company that previously owned the car, which in all likelihood was just forgotten there, but the GPS and eSIM that comes with most (all?) new cars and that in most (all?) new cars cannot be disabled. Apart from privacy concerns of your data being used or sold by the car vendor, government outreach is also a concern. There was a bill announced in the US for all new…

> Most people would have probably driven around for years with a foreign GPS tracker. So basically everyone with a smartphone? I'm not sure if it's really worse if the car has its own GPS and cell connectivity. How many people turn off their phone or leave it at home? And you can buy other people's location data, so...

> So basically everyone with a smartphone

Tbh considering the accuracy of modern triangulation technology... anyone with a cellphone, period.

Re: What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

#162

Post by djbusby »

snowwrestler wrote: post #81
josephcsible wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But that's not a gas vs. electric distinction, but rather an old vs. new one. Modern ICE cars have all of those problems too.

Yes but the point is, this technology is a blocker for people who might otherwise be interested in an electric powertrain vehicle. If you want an old car without all this crap, you can get one. But it pretty much has to be an ICE.

Bild your own electric in an old style body? Fun, if nothing else.

Re: What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

#163

Post by don-code »

dclowd9901 wrote: post #35
afh1 wrote: post #25

The scary part is not the GPS installed by the fleet company that previously owned the car, which in all likelihood was just forgotten there, but the GPS and eSIM that comes with most (all?) new cars and that in most (all?) new cars cannot be disabled. Apart from privacy concerns of your data being used or sold by the car vendor, government outreach is also a concern. There was a bill announced in the US for all new…

I'm with you here. I have an 89 BMW (which is old enough to have an actual servo motor attached to the intake manifold for cruise control) and an 83 Land Cruiser (whose most advanced feature is that it controls its emissions using vacuum controlled pneumatic circuitry). I'm very glad I've put in the time to learn how to work on cars because I have zero interest in the tech direction of modern vehicles.

87 BMW here. I believe my servo is controlling the throttle cable itself. When the cruise control commands the vehicle to accelerate, the pedal physically moves.

It's not my daily driver, but I would absolutely love to one day get another one as a project car - one that's not in such good condition that I'd feel bad removing the engine - and drop an electric motor in it. That likely _would_ become my daily driver. The car's incredibly well made, and a joy to drive.

Re: What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

#164

Post by MaxBarraclough »

afh1 wrote: post #25

The scary part is not the GPS installed by the fleet company that previously owned the car, which in all likelihood was just forgotten there, but the GPS and eSIM that comes with most (all?) new cars and that in most (all?) new cars cannot be disabled. Apart from privacy concerns of your data being used or sold by the car vendor, government outreach is also a concern. There was a bill announced in the US for all new…

Last year Mozilla did a study on the privacy of modern cars. Every car they tested showed terrible privacy problems.

Privacy Nightmare on Wheels: Every Car Brand Reviewed by Mozilla https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37443644

(edit I see I'm not the first to link this in this thread)

Re: What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

#165

Post by lostlogin »

snowwrestler wrote: post #81
josephcsible wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But that's not a gas vs. electric distinction, but rather an old vs. new one. Modern ICE cars have all of those problems too.

Yes but the point is, this technology is a blocker for people who might otherwise be interested in an electric powertrain vehicle. If you want an old car without all this crap, you can get one. But it pretty much has to be an ICE.

> this technology is a blocker for people who might otherwise be interested in an electric powertrain vehicle.

This surely isn’t a large group.

Re: What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

#166

Post by lostlogin »

sellmesoap wrote: post #54
mitthrowaway2 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does any of that have to do with a car being electric?

Let's find a list of electric cars without some form of network connection!

Pretty sure my 2018 Leaf doesn’t.

Re: What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

#167

Post by ssl-3 »

spike021 wrote: post #70

A lot of used cars have something like this. I'm honestly more surprised OP apparently bought the car either sight unseen or without questioning this before signing any paperwork.

I bought a used van a few years ago at a strange time: I needed a particular kind of vehicle right away, and there broadly just weren't any at a reasonable price (because chip shortage, mostly). I spent a long time (several weeks) looking, and became increasingly frustrated with what would have normally been a simple process.

When one showed up at a good local dealership, I bought it. I barely looked at it first.

Unusual? Probably. But those were unusual times.

Anyway, it had a small metal toggle switch mounted under the dash. The old-school kind, with the metal tag painted with red and black On/Off silkscreen.

I never did figure out what it was for.

I had a peek more than once (of course) to see what it connected to, but it was just a Siamese pair of wires that drifted off to unseeable areas.

The only other modification I could find was a very neatly-installed remote starter.

And that remote start box did have a switch input (for valet mode, whatever that means), but it was not connected.

(It all got ruined in a crash a couple of months ago and the purpose of the switch shall thus remain a mystery.)

Re: What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

#168

Post by lostlogin »

Ichthypresbyter wrote: post #135
rcpt wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a kill switch The funny thing is that's what cars do to other people because we don't have enough monitoring. My e-bike is limited to 20 because "safety". Your car should be to.

Your ebike is limited because it can legally be operated by anybody (including a child) without needing any kind of license. If you want to legally operate a faster electric two-wheeled vehicle, take the test to get a motorbike license.

Is that why?

I get up to multiples of that on a push bike every day. The kids that rip past me do too.

Re: What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

#169

Post by smitelli »

bentcorner wrote: post #106
m3galinux wrote: post #102

Whoever bought my old Honda Fit is asking the same question right now; I installed a button in about the same place. They'll have fun figuring that one out. Honda Fit's AC is designed a lot more for fuel efficiency than effectiveness. So I added a resistor parallel to AC temperature sensor (and the switch inline) which makes the system think it's warmer than it really is, so it cools more. But with the risk of allowi…

I'm not doubting your solution but at the same time would turning down the desired temperature in the car achieve the same goal?

Most automotive A/C compressors are either on or off, with the engine ECU commanding an overriding “off” under hard acceleration or when fuel economy or other situations require an interruption in cooling.

Some older temperature dials actually mixed the cold A/C air with the hot air from the heater core to make those in-between temperatures.

Re: What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

#170

Post by Sebb767 »

6SixTy wrote: post #91
Etheryte wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Electric cars are essentially black boxes. When you take it apart, you have largely no idea what any of the chips do, even if you chase down what they're connected to. Is this the infotainment system or is it the infotainment system and a data gathering system that sends all my data off seas? There's no way to know. Old cars don't have that problem. Here's an engine, here's a gearbox, add a radio if you'd like, but b…

Problem with gathering data off cars is that it's really not that effective vs your phone. A car realistically just sits around doing nothing 80% of the time, while a phone is with you 24/7, likely powered 24/7, and already has telemetry mechanisms built in. An old car with someone using a phone probably still collects the same data as you assert. And an EV without smarts is legitimately just a golf cart.

On the other hand, cars are much less limited in terms of sensor size (allowing you to determine location and acceleration more precisely, for example), power and permissions. In theory, root permission on your phone would be better, but a normal app won't have this amount of far-reaching permissions, but the manufacturerers have full control over hardware and software on your car.
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