this post was submitted on 12 Jan 2024
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I want to buy a new car, but it needs to be privacy friendly. Sadly you cannot really buy any new Car that is.

Has anybody any experience on making your modern car not phone home to its company, by removing the hardware it uses to do?

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[–] Darkassassin07@lemmy.ca 51 points 10 months ago (2 children)

While this seems like a great plan; I wouldn't put it past manufacturers to throw an error message and disable the vehicle for 'safety' when it detects a missing network connection for an extended period and/or disabled hardware during self-test.

I hate this dystopian hellscape :(

[–] Death_Equity@lemmy.world 10 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The car would likely inform the owner to visit a service center and disable features that rely on network connection, but would not disable the car. The warning would be crying wolf, so a warning of actual concern may be ignored as part of the known connectivity error; which may lead to bigger problems.

[–] Darkassassin07@lemmy.ca 2 points 10 months ago

Given recent examples of cars doing exactly this (disabling drive due to perceived hardware/software errors), namely BMW: I'm not very hopeful.

[–] 0xtero@beehaw.org 7 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

When I was last working in the automotive industry about two decades ago, a lot of effort was being put into protecting BIOS on diagnostic laptops, so that only "authentic" manufacturer diagnostic tools could be used to service the vehicles.

Pretty sure that development has continued.

[–] fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.world 26 points 10 months ago (4 children)

It's entirely dependent on what car you buy, they're all different. On some cars it's integral to the ECU or some other component. On other cars like my Subaru it's a box you just remove, then you'll need a custom harness to make the speaker audio work again.

Without saying what car it is nobody can help you without saying "just unplug it".

[–] authed@lemmy.ml 5 points 10 months ago

Looks like you should start a guide because you know a lot more than me

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[–] Reality_Suit@lemmy.one 20 points 10 months ago (3 children)

I am never buying a new car again. It will be hard, but I'm only buying old cars and repairing them. Not sure what to do about fuel when that stops. I Not sure about how to deal with a lot in the future, but I'm going to keep trying.

[–] requiem@lemmy.world 11 points 10 months ago (1 children)

There will be simple conversion kits available I should hope.

[–] Reality_Suit@lemmy.one 2 points 10 months ago

I thought I read about Chevy doing a electric differential, but I did find this:

https://cleantechnica.com/2021/03/16/magna-introduces-ebeam-electric-rear-axle-for-pickup-trucks/

[–] bluGill@kbin.social 7 points 10 months ago (5 children)

You can have good luck just by buying 10 year old cars - they might have connectivity, but the it will be to a cell/network standard that no longer exists and so for practical purposes the car cannot connect to anything.

[–] admiralteal@kbin.social 19 points 10 months ago

Planned obsolescence restoring our privacy through incompetence is kind of fun to think about.

[–] KpntAutismus@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago (4 children)

toyotas are typically outdated. my 2002 car has a cassette deck, but no CD player. i can imagine a car from 2010 barely being able to recieve DAB.

that car will last 20 more years anyway, so i'll just wait this dystopian shit out. why "upgrade" when your car starts every morning and gets 35-40mpg?

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[–] Reality_Suit@lemmy.one 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I have thought about something like that. Maybe getting an early model EV and maintaining it. I love the idea of electric vehicles, but they've just always been expensive. Cost is also the reason I have never bought a new vehicle in my life as well.

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[–] Death_Equity@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

3G was ended in 2022, which opens up a lot of models. I think 4g started being implemented around 2014.

[–] bluGill@kbin.social 2 points 10 months ago

Even before the official end man, towers were retired and so odds were against getting a connection though somecimes you could

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[–] admiralteal@kbin.social 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Fortunately(?) the planet will have no future if it continues to be the case that basically everyone needs their own personal automobile to function in it.

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[–] scottmeme@sh.itjust.works 20 points 10 months ago (5 children)

Speaking as someone who worked for a corporate auto maker, it won't be an easy task since they try to make it as difficult as possible to disable online activation if even providing the ability at all.

The only real solution is pulling the head unit and trying to find any modem and desolder it, which who knows if it would function as it had before hand since everything is integrated.

It will also hurt resale value.

[–] Aradia@lemmy.ml 14 points 10 months ago (1 children)

When I worked on auto-maker on the head units, they were integrated on the chip, the ones that had a sim slot where you can insert and extract it were the ones for development. Recent cars, their GPS and screen media menus uses the Linux inside the modem chip.

[–] lemann@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Sounds a lot like a smartphone where one SoC chip does pretty much everything... CPU, cell modem, WiFi, USB host/device switching, quick charge, the whole lot 😢

[–] TurdMongler@lemmy.world 13 points 10 months ago

Black box tracking device. Just like Intel Management Engine, AMT and Microsoft Pluton! Proprietary Blobs. You don't own your device.

[–] Aradia@lemmy.ml 7 points 10 months ago

Unless you get an expensive car, I think they do that to reduce expenses. Expensive cars have dedicated CPU for that, but they still communicate with the head unit for online data.

[–] Critical_Insight@feddit.uk 2 points 10 months ago

Maybe you could build a faraday cage around it or something. Wrap it in foil.

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[–] LEDZeppelin@lemmy.world 15 points 10 months ago (5 children)

I have a strong suspicion that Sirius XM is some form of government mandated mass surveillance hardware. There’s absolutely no other explanation that every car manufacturer just includes that garbage as a standard equipment that you just can not opt out of.

These auto manufacturers will nickel and dime you for smallest things like rubber mats they expect us to believe that piece of shit like Sirius XM is included out of kindness of their heart.

[–] thecrotch@sh.itjust.works 24 points 10 months ago

Sirius pays them. You're more likely to subscribe if your car already has the radio. Same reason your shitty Walmart laptop comes with McAfee.

[–] Alto@kbin.social 10 points 10 months ago

It's becaude it's a free trial. XM either directly pays car manufacturers or subsidizes the additional hardware costs, XM gets people to try their service who never otherwise would have, car dealers get another feature to add to their list.

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[–] z00s@lemmy.world 11 points 10 months ago

Buy an older car and spend the extra money on replacing and upgrading components.

[–] authed@lemmy.ml 8 points 10 months ago

We need guides on how to do this for all cars

[–] tarius@lemmy.ml 8 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)
[–] 0xtero@beehaw.org 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, that'll most likely disable the car / limit it. They often have anti-tamper detection in critical ECUs as well.

[–] PaddleMaster@beehaw.org 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Your comment makes me wonder if one could get around AT by installing faraday cages around where the chips are.

I block telemetry on my IoT devices and they still work. I’m curious if cars would be bricked if they couldn’t call home, or if you could selectively allow certain messages through.

[–] domi@lemmy.secnd.me 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I'm curious if cars would be bricked if they couldn’t call home, or if you could selectively allow certain messages through.

I can't speak for every car but at least Teslas do not mind being offline. You cannot control which messages they send because they connect via a VPN to the mothership. So it's an all or nothing kinda deal.

You can also pretty easily remove the SIM card on older models with just a few screws. Newer ones use eSIMs, never looked into how to get rid of that one but I assume it is more complicated.

Your comment makes me wonder if one could get around AT by installing faraday cages around where the chips are.

The antennas are usually external, mounted somewhere else in the car and can be unplugged. Never checked if it can still get a signal without the antenna though.

edit: Also, the PCB itself is mounted inside a faraday cage because the entire thing sits inside of RF shielding.

[–] SheeEttin@programming.dev 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Probably, but exactly what you do would depend on your exact model. I would get the technical service manual for your vehicle, find the part about replacing that module, and follow the directions to remove it.

[–] WarmSoda@lemm.ee 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Is it even in the manual though?

[–] Critical_Insight@feddit.uk 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

He means the manual repair shops use. It lists how to replace pretty much every single component in your car.

[–] WarmSoda@lemm.ee 2 points 10 months ago

I know. I'm curious if it's listed in there or if it's ommited.

[–] guyrocket@kbin.social 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

If you wrap your whole car with aluminum foil then the signal can't get out. Be sure there are NO GAPS!

[–] LukyJay@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Does this include the windscreen?

[–] guyrocket@kbin.social 3 points 10 months ago

YES, DUH!

Signals get out extra good from the windscreen.

[–] Tzeentch@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Your best bet is to find a car where its easiest to disable the antenna/cellular modem for, so look for a car that has a fuse for the DCM(digital communications module) you can pull, as having it be a fuse means you can readily reconnect it should you need to, try to find its schematic online, or find the repair manual for the car or use a car maintenance program,

Apparently its also possible to call the car company and ask for an opt out when serviced,

I vaguely remember some people experimenting with replacing the head unit with aftermarket ones, but no idea how well that would actually go in practice

[–] Lemonparty@lemm.ee 2 points 10 months ago

I vaguely remember some people experimenting with replacing the head unit with aftermarket ones, but no idea how well that would actually go in practice

This varies wildly from manufacturer to manufacturer and even year to year. For example, GM cars used to route damn near everything through the entertainment unit, so that was your central computer. Cell antenna, on star control panel, every that phoned home. That was as recently as mid 2010s. It also led to hilarious problems where a relatively simple issue like an OnStar button not working well required a complete replacement of the stereo unit (which was $8k or so in parts and labor). Now that instrument clusters are doing more while also getting more diagnostic and digital, things are transitioning to a more centralized computing system somewhere else. This can make it easier OR more difficult to get around, depends on design.

For other brands it's borderline impossible to even use an aftermarket system. Mazdas for example the entire infotainment system relies on itself. There's nowhere to even put a traditional aftermarket. I'm sure it's possible, but the design of the interior is completely based around the infotainment unit.

[–] dog_@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago

If you plan to get a GM vehicle, from what I've seen. Most OnStar modules are right behind the infotainment screen. However, if you remove that, you lose your microphone.

[–] rabiddolphin@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

Don't use a jamming device that'd be effective, wrong and illegal

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