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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

#351

Post by snowwrestler »

djbusby wrote: post #162
snowwrestler wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I’m honestly amazed there are not more conversion kits. Pull the IC powertrain and gas tank, replace with battery and electric motor. It’s obviously way harder than it seems or I think a lot of folks would be doing it.

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

#352

Post by snozolli »

smitelli wrote: post #169
bentcorner wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Most automotive A/C compressors are either on or off

All AC compressors are either on or off. The compressed gas is gradually released by the TXV. The drop in pressure as the gas exits the TXV is what makes it cold.

Some older temperature dials actually mixed the cold A/C air with the hot air from the heater

What vehicles don't do this?

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

#353

Post by dghlsakjg »

Forgeties79 wrote: post #344
dghlsakjg wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Was Nissan actually collecting this data? All I can find is that the privacy policy retained the right to it (some lawyer probably though about what happens if they accidentally record you getting frisky, and put it in there preemptively), but no evidence if it actually happened.

Does it matter? We can split hairs over whether or not they are actually doing the thing they give themselves the rights to do, but that feels unproductive and disingenuous.

Yes. It comes down to intention.

The charitable read is that they are notifying you of the possibility that the car’s data collection may unintentionally include sexual activity. E.g. your car was recorded as having a rocking motion while parked.

The other read is that they are intentionally collecting sexual activity data for nefarious purposes.

The first is the lawyer drafting the release being overcautious. The second is a corporation being evil.

I’m not in love with either, but the claim was that Nissan was actively collecting data about sexual activity, when there is no proof of that. The only thing there is proof of is that they put a notice in their terms of service.

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

#354

Post by snozolli »

gmueckl wrote: post #113
Ccecil wrote: post #63

Back around 2004 a friend of mine worked at a car dealership in the Bronx that sold high end used cars. They were putting GPS trackers in all of the cars they financed so they could repossess them when the customer didn't make their payment. This was/is (from my understanding, IANAL) very illegal. They never told the customers either. The financing was ridiculous and they preyed on the people who had just enough down…

Dealerships in the US have become more brazen about that practice. They won't hide that they installed the device. Instead, they will upsell you on an anti-theft device. One dealer tried to sell one to me to the tune of 600$/year. That told me that they were butchering the wiring on every brand new car that hit their lot. I walked out without a deal.

That told me that they were butchering the wiring on every brand new car that hit their lot.

There's no need for butchering. All that's needed is constant 12V. Maybe an aux 12V if you need to know when the car is on. At most, they may have installed a relay to cut the fuel pump or ignition, which is no more invasive than a standard alarm installation.

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

#355

Post by cogman10 »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #289
dzhiurgis wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And luddites been criticising cara for being too modern for hundreds of years too.

The Luddites haven't been criticizing cars for anything, given how they came and went 50 years before a first proper car was built. And, if anything, the Luddites were not anti-technology, they were anti-being fucked over by capitalists . The problem they rose up against wasn't the automatic looms, it was the way they were deployed - to replace skilled workers instead of augmenting them, depressing salaries and elimi…

Yup, the parallel is the dream of a lot of the AI companies "Hey look, this LLM can maybe come in and do 80% of the work, so maybe you don't need 80% of your staff? Certainly you don't need the most expensive members".

That's effectively the scenario that Luddites found themselves in. Looms came in and decimated previously well paying jobs and the owners of the looms basically told the skilled workers to pound sand.

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

#356

Post by dclowd9901 »

sgt wrote: post #259
volemo wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How large is your family? Why do you need so many cars?

People who have many cars usually don't do it because of necessity, but because they love tinkering with the old automobiles.

Bingo.

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

#358

Post by dclowd9901 »

op00to wrote: post #306
dclowd9901 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I love older cars and drove an early 80s Volvo until 2010 or so, but I also love side impact airbags, antilock brakes, and a car that mostly just “works”.

I do have one newer Toyota Tacoma for the purpose of "just working" and it does a great job of fulfilling that role, but includes a host of features and such that I really have no interest in. But if you have project cars, you really just need a very stable "normal" vehicle for day to day.

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

#359

Post by ddingus »

_huayra_ wrote: post #337
ddingus wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That depends doesn't it? I keep my cars for a long time. 200k miles is the usual, and that has held true buying used a little ways north of 100k miles already on the board. If we designed for very long car life, the waste equation would look different. Toyota does, and there are a small number of people planning on half a million miles. Recently there is evidence Toyota is either struggling on this metric. Quality pr…

> Recently there is evidence Toyota is either struggling on this metric. Quality problems or deliberate design intent change? I'm hoping they fix this. There's almost no other reason to buy a Toyota other than this reliability reputation. It seems like the way to go now is a naturally-aspirated Subaru, which I ended up after all the Toyota dealers near me treated me like a chump (which apparently is common; Toyota do…

Yeah, a friend has a Suburu and we just had this same chat.

My most recent buy was a golden era Toyota and the difference is notable when I look at current models.

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

#360

Post by ddingus »

Gh0stRAT wrote: post #322
ddingus wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right there myself. One conversion I want to attempt, but am unfortunately unlikely to, is an electric rear wheel drive. Front wheel can remain gas with transmission. Add more generating current capacity, and have that dumped into the rear drive system batteries. With my current car, the V6 gets very good economy at speed, and poor economy in town or in traffic. An assist from the rear can tackle the poor economy cas…

This is exactly how Toyota's AWD works in the Sienna these days. It gets 35mpg city and highway, 1mpg less than the front wheel drive Sienna (which, to be fair, is also a hybrid)

Good to know. Does it have EV only range, or just assist?
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