Forums Latest Members

Will your car potentially repossess itself?

  1. Archer Omega Qualified Watchmaker Mar 1, 2023

    Posts
    26,344
    Likes
    65,056
    If Ford has its way, maybe...

    20230055958 (uspto.gov)

    But it would first possibly lock out some functions of the car, or possibly play an annoying noise inside when you try to use the car, and if none of that works, it may drive the car to an impound lot...
     
    Spruce likes this.
  2. Omegafanman Mar 1, 2023

    Posts
    4,564
    Likes
    17,110
    Tesla are always way ahead ... They can shut you down anytime if you dont pay the bills.

    upload_2023-3-1_15-58-2.png
     
  3. josiahg52 Mar 1, 2023

    Posts
    856
    Likes
    1,624
    Question is, would the car manufacturer or the service provider do this on behalf of the creditor? I mean it's not GM that is shutting down the car during a theft or remotely unlocking it for GM (or creditor). It's for the operator and on behalf of GM who has contracted the service to a third-party.
     
  4. Vercingetorix Spam Risk Mar 1, 2023

    Posts
    3,238
    Likes
    5,219
    Ford will try it out, lock some child in a car, get sued and drop it.
     
    kaplan, Togri v. 2.0 and McKnife like this.
  5. Aroxx Sets his watch Mar 1, 2023

    Posts
    2,490
    Likes
    10,176
    I mean, it's kind of better than a 300 pound dude with an attitude showing up unannounced to "steal" your car, isn't it? It just quietly drives away in the middle of the night. Repo man is going to have to find a new job.
     
    McKnife and RevZMan123 like this.
  6. Omegafanman Mar 1, 2023

    Posts
    4,564
    Likes
    17,110
    It will certainly be a witness against you in court / turns states evidence :0)

    How car technology helped catch a killer

    Some modern, expensive cars are installed with electronic systems which can track and store information about its movements. This so-called telematics system can be used as a tracking device if the car is stolen. It can also tell when a car's engine is started or stopped and even when a window, door or boot is opened and closed.

    Like a mobile phone on wheels, the system uses a SIM card.

    Nick Harvey, risk data manager for Plant-I telematics company, said data is live constantly and GPS tracking could be accurate within 5m.

    He said over the past 10 years, such tracking had become more commonplace in car technology and security systems and could now help with investigations.


    On 3 June, two weeks after Whall was first interviewed by police, the car was found burned in Llanllechid, near Bangor. Two other men have already admitted arson and await sentence in relation to this.
    Whall may have believed he had covered his tracks by having the Land Rover destroyed, possibly believing any telematics data would also go up in smoke, but his every move had been recorded and stored, back at Jaguar Land Rover.

    When police obtained the data, it provided another, key piece of the puzzle.

    It revealed Whall had parked at Porth Dafarch beach - a short walk from Mr Corrigan's home - at 23:10 on 18 April.

    The boot was opened at 23:11:04 and closed 39 seconds later. This was Whall, said prosecutors, removing the crossbow.

    Mr Corrigan was shot at either 00:29 or 00:30 on 19 April.

    Again, modern technology - this time from Sky's records - proved a satellite signal was present at his home at 00:08. Its records show that at 00:28, the viewer (Mr Corrigan) stopped a pre-recorded programme and the satellite signal was "no longer present".

    Roughly 12 minutes later, the Land Rover's boot was opened back at the beach. It closed 14 seconds later, at 00:42:49.

    Anglesey crossbow murder: How car technology helped catch a killer - BBC News
     
    ErichPryde likes this.
  7. RevZMan123 Mar 1, 2023

    Posts
    1,799
    Likes
    3,780
    Spooky tech
     
  8. WestCoastTime Mar 1, 2023

    Posts
    283
    Likes
    1,038
    "Buy Here Pay Here" used car dealers have had the "friendly payment reminder" lockout / immobiliser boxes in use for many years. The Ford patent seems like an extension of this practice to now also involve the car's autonomous driving system.
     
  9. Larry S Color Commentator for the Hyperbole. Mar 1, 2023

    Posts
    12,471
    Likes
    49,513
    When the Russians purloined some new and expensive John Deere tractors in Ukraine, the company froze their electrics making them basically useless. Its kinda a ying and yang thing. Good theft deterrence but also an invasion of privacy.
     
    McKnife likes this.
  10. sheepdoll Mar 1, 2023

    Posts
    1,719
    Likes
    2,859
    I had a used car that had a KARR dealer alarm. I did not pay for the option. It still required a special key fob to start the car. It also made dead batteries a PITA.

    Years later Someone attempted to jimmy the lock on the drivers side. (this was a 2004 two door honda coupe.) That made it next to impossible to open the door with a key. Since I work at times with coin operated music machines (the pre-cursors to jukeboxes.) I know some basic blacksmithing, so I decided to fix the lock myself. I found there was an after market door opener installed which was an option that the KARR alarm could do.

    I looked this system up because I like hacking certain electronic devices. and found a funny story.

    These things are used by dealers in certain part of the countries to prevent lot theft as well as repo when the bills are not paid. The dealer had a signal that could disable the cars driven too far from the lot. Someone got mad at the dealer and hacked the system so that all the KARR alarms in the area would disable the cars, in the area which caused a massive traffic jam.

    I had the system replaced with a different third party alarm system that had a working remote. (and no keyfob kill switch.)
     
    RevZMan123 likes this.
  11. RevZMan123 Mar 1, 2023

    Posts
    1,799
    Likes
    3,780
    They are the big reason for the push towards Right to Repair legislation in the USA, though I might be able to get behind this limited usage.
     
    McKnife likes this.
  12. Jonathan40 Mar 1, 2023

    Posts
    1,022
    Likes
    5,123
    Wasn’t there a film some years ago about this.
    Minority Report!!! Tom was the star so must me true.
     
    Omegafanman likes this.
  13. gbesq Mar 1, 2023

    Posts
    7,708
    Likes
    39,334
    A car that would make its own payment to the bank would be considerably more useful.
     
  14. Archer Omega Qualified Watchmaker Mar 1, 2023

    Posts
    26,344
    Likes
    65,056
    I would expect at some point, once full autonomy is the norm, you will be able to rent your car out sort of like an Airbnb...while you are at work or sleeping, it's out earning it's keep...
     
    ErichPryde likes this.
  15. dsio Ash @ ΩF Staff Member Mar 1, 2023

    Posts
    26,759
    Likes
    32,472
    Some engineer probably thinks it’s a good idea, but once someone in legal begins asking questions like

    “How does the car know if there is a baby in the back seat before it repo’s itself?”

    Or

    “What if the driver’s insulin or heart medication is in the car”

    I think it’ll be filed under patents that don’t work in real life.
     
    kkt likes this.
  16. Spacefruit Prolific Speedmaster Hoarder Mar 1, 2023

    Posts
    5,191
    Likes
    22,933

    Then it’s not really your / my car.

    as the Oberführer says, “you will own nothing…..and be happy”

    car ownership is frankly already history - how many new cars are owned? almost all are Leased nowadays. So I am told.

    My youngest car being 2006 and even that has an ECU that I couldn’t fix with a hammer, my preferred automotive go to tool. (Joke - in case it isn’t clear)
     
    Gefa and janice&fred like this.
  17. TexOmega Mar 1, 2023

    Posts
    7,265
    Likes
    54,178
    Yep, hammer and duct tape for me......if the repair can't be solved by a well placed"THUNK!" or patched, I'm pretty much out of ideas.:thumbsup:
     
    noelekal, janice&fred and kkt like this.
  18. Aroxx Sets his watch Mar 1, 2023

    Posts
    2,490
    Likes
    10,176
    Some of the new electric motorcycles have paid options to unlock more horsepower and other features with an over the wire update. Pretty annoying considering you already bought the hardware.
     
    McKnife and JwRosenthal like this.
  19. Archer Omega Qualified Watchmaker Mar 1, 2023

    Posts
    26,344
    Likes
    65,056
    You going to tell all the people renting their homes out on Airbnb that they don’t own their homes too? ::facepalm1::

    Bring on that reset...cant happen fast enough! It will make getting my daily dose of Andrenochrome so much easier!

    BTW we own our cars...
     
  20. JimInOz Melbourne Australia Mar 1, 2023

    Posts
    15,404
    Likes
    32,173
    Cars are definitely getting smarter.
    I've owned Volkswagens for a number of years and had great fun with OBD management applications.
    I could do important things, like disable the "safety" message that required a response every time you started the car :mad:.
    It also allowed me to disable the stupid "stop/start" system, which may make sense in Europe, but is simply dangerous in Australia.
    Best was being able to permanently disable the "sound actor" which broadcast fake engine noise back into the car, arrrrrgh!
    Fun things, like changing traffic indicator light patterns, and heaps of other "tweaks" were possible as well.

    I found out that my MY23 T-ROC R has been nobbled by VW.
    Owners are no longer able to access the system and only the service agent can access it with a one time code.
    That stupid nagging "safety message" is still there though, it's the only thing that spoils an otherwise fantastic car.

    I have no idea if it would be able to be "autonomously re-possessed" as I own it.
    Even if it was under finance, I don't know how it would open our garage door to sneak back to the dealers yard in the middle of the night.