Remember that "cash for clunkers" thing that was supposedly to "prevent global warming", but was really just to increase profits for car manufacturers by forcing people to buy new cars as all the old ones were scrapped? Guess there was a second motive behind that, old cars don't have computers they can remote control. Wi-Fi/Onstar/Bluetooth gives them the connection and method of attack, cruise control and automatic transmission gives them throttle control, ABS gives them brake control, and power steering gives them steering control.
To avoid this make sure your car has or doesn't have the following:
NO ONSTAR/WI-FI/BLUETOOTH/CONNECTIVITY OF ANY KIND - No explanation needed.
Manual transmission - Manual transmissions require the physical manipulation of the clutch to function. This limits them to whatever gear the car is in when they hack it, and the moment you realize what is happening you can quickly open the cluth to cut off all power to the wheels. You can also downshift to slow the vehicle down faster if you were at speed when they attempted to murder you.
Diesel engines - Diesels are compression-ignited, not spark, so they don't need spark plugs which in all modern vehicles are timed by the vehicle computer instead of mechanically. By the same token, having a car with a mechanically-timed carburetor instead of computer-controlled fuel injectors gives them even less angles of attack.
No ABS - ABS's legitimate purpose is to prevent your wheels from locking up when you slam on the brakes. When the computer senses the wheels are locking up due to the driver pushing too hard on the brakes, the computer overrides the driver's brake pedal, decreases the braking force until the wheel stops locking up, then maintains that lessened braking force to safely slow the vehicle down. The ABS stays activated until the driver releases the brakes. When hacked, they could easily continuously feed the computer some bogus signals from the "sensor" saying the wheels are locked up to activate the brake override. This results in your brakes effectively being deactivated.
Not so much power steering as 'fly by wire'. You just want to make sure your steering is actually using a physical steering column instead of a computer signal that the vehicle sends to the steering components.
Good point. I'd hate to drive without power steering. Drove an old truck that didn't have it once, my arms were sore after cranking that thing all day long. But even with a physical steering column, they can still hack the hydraulics cause the power steering likely still routes through the computer, then you'll be fighting against them to control the vehicle. Still, better than having no control at all.
The point of having a column is that the driver has the control, there are no active pumps or motors actually moving the steering rack. The only pump is to provide the pressurized steering fluid to the rack to make it easier to stear, with nothing to high-jack. The ecu may see the power steering pressure sensor reading, but that would only serve to provide a warning light in the event the pressure is too high/low. It's a non-reactive system.
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Narow_Foe_Minsk ago
Remember that "cash for clunkers" thing that was supposedly to "prevent global warming", but was really just to increase profits for car manufacturers by forcing people to buy new cars as all the old ones were scrapped? Guess there was a second motive behind that, old cars don't have computers they can remote control. Wi-Fi/Onstar/Bluetooth gives them the connection and method of attack, cruise control and automatic transmission gives them throttle control, ABS gives them brake control, and power steering gives them steering control.
To avoid this make sure your car has or doesn't have the following:
NO ONSTAR/WI-FI/BLUETOOTH/CONNECTIVITY OF ANY KIND - No explanation needed.
Manual transmission - Manual transmissions require the physical manipulation of the clutch to function. This limits them to whatever gear the car is in when they hack it, and the moment you realize what is happening you can quickly open the cluth to cut off all power to the wheels. You can also downshift to slow the vehicle down faster if you were at speed when they attempted to murder you.
Diesel engines - Diesels are compression-ignited, not spark, so they don't need spark plugs which in all modern vehicles are timed by the vehicle computer instead of mechanically. By the same token, having a car with a mechanically-timed carburetor instead of computer-controlled fuel injectors gives them even less angles of attack.
No ABS - ABS's legitimate purpose is to prevent your wheels from locking up when you slam on the brakes. When the computer senses the wheels are locking up due to the driver pushing too hard on the brakes, the computer overrides the driver's brake pedal, decreases the braking force until the wheel stops locking up, then maintains that lessened braking force to safely slow the vehicle down. The ABS stays activated until the driver releases the brakes. When hacked, they could easily continuously feed the computer some bogus signals from the "sensor" saying the wheels are locked up to activate the brake override. This results in your brakes effectively being deactivated.
FireMarshallBill ago
Not so much power steering as 'fly by wire'. You just want to make sure your steering is actually using a physical steering column instead of a computer signal that the vehicle sends to the steering components.
Narow_Foe_Minsk ago
Good point. I'd hate to drive without power steering. Drove an old truck that didn't have it once, my arms were sore after cranking that thing all day long. But even with a physical steering column, they can still hack the hydraulics cause the power steering likely still routes through the computer, then you'll be fighting against them to control the vehicle. Still, better than having no control at all.
FireMarshallBill ago
The point of having a column is that the driver has the control, there are no active pumps or motors actually moving the steering rack. The only pump is to provide the pressurized steering fluid to the rack to make it easier to stear, with nothing to high-jack. The ecu may see the power steering pressure sensor reading, but that would only serve to provide a warning light in the event the pressure is too high/low. It's a non-reactive system.