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Rash of parts thefts is leaving Freightliner trucks inoperable

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Re: Rash of parts thefts is leaving Freightliner trucks inoperable

#81

Post by tlb »

Karellen wrote: post #79
Thorrez wrote: post #67

>The company will consider civil actions for software infringement against those involved in CPC theft and mismanagement. What is software infringement? Does it mean copyright infringement? Stealing a piece of hardware isn't copyright infringment, although maybe some types of reprogramming it would be. Kind of funny. I've heard people call copyright infringement theft before, but I've never heard anyone call theft co…

Scribbling all over a book and rearranging the pages isn't copyright infringement, no matter whether you stole it, so rearranging or modifying sections of copyrightable material in any other physical item shouldn't be either.

No, but if you made photocopies of all the pages, rearranged and sold them it would be. Modifying software almost always involves copying. Some (older) technologies like punched cards allow modification without any copying. But if you're loading firmware from a device onto your laptop and using an editor, there are plenty of copies being made throughout the process.

Re: Rash of parts thefts is leaving Freightliner trucks inoperable

#82

Post by tialaramex »

userbinator wrote: post #29
tialaramex wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> biofuel-based vehicles can, in theory, be manufactured locally with machine tools The excellent thing about electricity is that it's fungible . Electricity from a wind farm in the North Sea, a nuclear plant in the South of France or a Texan solar panel is identical as far as the electric vehicle is concerned. In contrast with bio-fuels if you can't make the right chemical soup for this specific model of engine well…

In contrast with bio-fuels if you can't make the right chemical soup for this specific model of engine well too bad, buy a new engine or undertake expensive conversion Something like biodiesel is almost entirely a drop-in replacement, and diesel engines will burn a wide range of flammable liquids. Gasoline engines can be fairly easily converted to burn a bunch of other fuels too.

> diesel engines will burn a wide range of flammable liquids

Rudolf Diesel's engine will indeed burn lots of things to produce power. But the diesel engine in your 2022 car isn't just Mr Diesel's machine with nicer bodywork, it has been carefully fine-tuned for efficiency, ride, emissions and other considerations, including by using self-lubricating fuel injectors. If you use the wrong fuel on a good day you destroy those benefits and on a bad day you're also destroying the expensive engine itself.

Re: Rash of parts thefts is leaving Freightliner trucks inoperable

#83

Post by astrange »

aidenn0 wrote: post #64
riffraff wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't it a common transliteration of japanese to use R for L and show the devoiced U for voiceless consonant? I'm pretty sure I've seen it used often when the intent is to show "japeneseness".

I assume the mistake was the proper romanization of アイドル is aidoru.

Indeed. Idoru would be pronounced like "ee-dol".

Re: Rash of parts thefts is leaving Freightliner trucks inoperable

#84

Post by bob1029 »

UncleEntity wrote: post #36
olyjohn wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't say something like that and then omit the details! Are you referring to the overactive automatic braking?

Collision avoidance that likes to have false alarms going around curves on wet, sub-freezing roads. Auto transmission that wants to downshift into redline going down hills. General unpredictable behavior on slick roads where it is pretty important to be able to pick your gear. Partially this is the company’s fault because they turn off a bunch of stuff for “fuel economy”.

Why does something with as much mass as a semi truck have the ability to wrest control away from the operator in the first place?

Collision avoidance nannies seem substantially more tolerable when the physics equation has 2 zeroes removed from the mass figure.

It's not like arbitrary jackasses can get behind the wheel of these vehicles anyways... there is a reason a commercial licensing program exists.

Re: Rash of parts thefts is leaving Freightliner trucks inoperable

#85

Post by gambiting »

b112 wrote: post #69
DennisP wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, any electric car can be charged from solar panels on your roof. Then there's Aptera, which can charge itself from the sun if you're in a reasonably sunny area, and which has a strong commitment to right-to-repair: https://aptera.us/right-to-repair-commitment-feat-rich-rebui... They also make their own battery packs, despite not exactly being a large operation. https://aptera.us/battery-update/

Solar panels on my car roof might be good to charge my laptop. Or, keep a car from losing charge while idle. I think you'd have to leave the car in the sun for days, just to drive to the 5 minutes away store and back.

It just doesn't make any sense if you know anything about physics. Sun provides about 1kW of power per square meter.....at noon, at the equator, with no clouds.

Automotive solar panels like they use are about 20% efficient. Your average car roof is....let's be super forgiving and say 2sqm. So in the middle of the day, at the equator, you are generating about 400W of power.

The average EV battery is 50kWh. So you'd need 125 hours in full sun to recharge it fully. During a regular sunny day you'd get maybe.....2-3kWh back into your battery? So yeah, about enough to cover ~10 miles in a regular EV.

Sure it's better than nothing, but remember that this is in ideal conditions. In less than ideal conditions you are talking yeah, enough energy to cover a mile or two per day of charging. It's just silly.

Re: Rash of parts thefts is leaving Freightliner trucks inoperable

#86

Post by Ekaros »

rasz wrote: post #75
r00fus wrote: post #31

"The rip-offs of common powertrain control module 4 units relate to the ongoing shortage of microchips" So how long does the microchip shortage continue?

A lot of manufacturers discovered shortages are mega profitable, making them reluctant to see it as a problem.

Like anything, they finally see actual profits and increasing production likely won't increase those profits. So I don't actually see there being too much pressure to increase the production.

Re: Rash of parts thefts is leaving Freightliner trucks inoperable

#87

Post by Gordonjcp »

KennyBlanken wrote: post #19
tyingq wrote: post #13

I have to wonder if this is one of those somewhat "implanted" stories to get support for moving towards John Deere style DRM on some of their parts. That is, not that it's made up, but that perhaps the scale is being exaggerated a bit. Edit: Yes, I'm aware there's some DRM. So far, though, not as locked down as the example of John Deere, cryptographic control that requires phone-home, etc.

The article implies the control units are coded to the vehicle's VIN at least to some degree and mentions Freightliner asks people to look out for logged errors indicating someone attempted to use a control unit from a different VIN. There's also mention of a separate password function. However, if there's a market for these units, someone's likely developed a tool to "re code" the control units. But: "Moving toward"…

> ECUs and dashes on most VAG (VW Audi Group) cars are coded to each other and have been for around two decades if not longer

The mid-90s electronics in my Range Rover will cope with swapping dashboards by programming the mileage to be whichever is highest between the BECM and dash. It'll moan about "ODOMETER FAULT" for a bit but eventually it'll just give up telling you and set them to be the same. While it's possible to reprogram them it's extremely nontrivial, and no commercial units exist that can do it - and the poke-and-hope brigade that offer "mileage correction" will almost certainly leave you with more problems than you started with.

The electronics in them are very similar to late-80s BMW E32 7-series with a bizarre mix of Motorola, NEC and Intel parts.

Re: Rash of parts thefts is leaving Freightliner trucks inoperable

#88

Post by Gordonjcp »

sokoloff wrote: post #44
KennyBlanken wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article implies the control units are coded to the vehicle's VIN at least to some degree and mentions Freightliner asks people to look out for logged errors indicating someone attempted to use a control unit from a different VIN. There's also mention of a separate password function. However, if there's a market for these units, someone's likely developed a tool to "re code" the control units. But: "Moving toward"…

The average age of vehicles is trending up because cars are more reliable and just last longer. It used to be an event to roll over a 5-digit odometer. Now, 250K miles is just getting broken in.

One 1998 Range Rover here with 130,000 miles on the clock, the other with 270,000 - and the latter did 100,000 miles in about six or seven years since I got it.

There's a guy on my forum with an ex-police Range Rover the same age as mine that is now considerably north of 400,000 miles.

Re: Rash of parts thefts is leaving Freightliner trucks inoperable

#89

Post by prmoustache »

r00fus wrote: post #31

"The rip-offs of common powertrain control module 4 units relate to the ongoing shortage of microchips" So how long does the microchip shortage continue?

> So how long does the microchip shortage continue?

In my humble opinion, there is no shortage. There is however a huge priorization and a control of the production to elevate the prices.

I guess some people in far east asia figured out they have power the same way as the founders of OPEP did in the 70's. Look at all the microchips based shit you can buy on aliexpress. Doesn't seem they are affected much by shortage.

Re: Rash of parts thefts is leaving Freightliner trucks inoperable

#90

Post by prmoustache »

gambiting wrote: post #85
b112 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Solar panels on my car roof might be good to charge my laptop. Or, keep a car from losing charge while idle. I think you'd have to leave the car in the sun for days, just to drive to the 5 minutes away store and back.

It just doesn't make any sense if you know anything about physics. Sun provides about 1kW of power per square meter.....at noon, at the equator, with no clouds. Automotive solar panels like they use are about 20% efficient. Your average car roof is....let's be super forgiving and say 2sqm. So in the middle of the day, at the equator, you are generating about 400W of power. The average EV battery is 50kWh. So you'd ne…

You seem to forget that bar exceptions (people working on the road all day), most passenger cars are staying parked 99% of the time and use for small errands.

The aptera is also built to provide up to 1000miles in its highest spec out of one complete charge.

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