Be Careful! New Cars Spy on You and Report to the Mothership!

I'm not too happy with this one. This would violate my personal idea of self determination.

https://nypost.com/2024/03/12/busin...n-you-and-upping-your-insurance-rates-report/

 

No desire for a newer DD. Maybe a toy but that's it.

We don't drive much really & I'd like to look into "mileage based insurance" but afraid my driving style might negate any savings.

 

Best reason to keep a GS in the stable for those times when you feel the need, the need for speed.

 

What the big print giveth, the fine print taketh away. 2000-word terms and condition page lol.

 

For better or worse, one area in life that I'm "efficient" (there aren't many) is driving. Tbh, it's good that I don't want or have a newer DD. On the occasions that I do drive a newer vehicle, it's too easy for me to go too fast.

 

Other than our 2015 Grand Cherokee, our cars are 98 and 99 Beetles,my 95 f350 and 2 70 Skylarks. I won't buy another new car unless I win the lottery big time..

 

Other than a toy (C8, Hellcat,etc.) don't believe would even if I did win the lottery. I might however go find the nicest 2000 Camry out there, lol. Pref. a 5-sp. although as much as I tow w/my current one, the auto is nice for backing up. Maybe even pay up for a nice but older pickup.

 

I'd go get my Omni GLH that I have always wanted. Then, buy more old ****...lol

 

Back in '86, GNs took the spotlight but stock, the Omni GLHS was just as quick. Saw a new one turn low 14s summer of '86 @ 75-80 dragway. This was just after the Nationals when the 1st couple '86 GNs showed up and ran low 14's.

 

This has been in force since 2014. Here is the information they can capture.

What information does the EDR capture? (Event Data Recorders)

The NHTSA is in the process of implementing a rule that will standardize the information collected by EDRs. For now, the data collected by the event recorder can vary based on the auto manufacturer, the model of the vehicle and the EDR unit itself. However, the unit normally captures 15 or more variables, monitored about 20 seconds before the crash and 5-10 seconds after the crash. The information usually includes:

• Pre-crash vehicle operational dynamics such as the speed, use of accelerator, engine RPM, use of steering wheel.
• Crash force, both forward and lateral.
• Crash duration.
• Application of brakes and activation of antilock brake.
• Change in speed after impact.
• Activation of fault codes or warning signals.
• Engagement of stability control.
• Vehicle roll angle.
• Number of ignition attempts after the accident.
• Use of restraint and engagement of pretension and force-limiter for front seat occupants.
• Position of front seats.
• Size (weight) of front seat occupants.
• Number of impacts.
• Deployment of airbags, speed of deployment and faults, if any.
• Activation of the automatic collision notification system.

In addition to these, some units also record the duration of the trip, time of the day when the crash occurred, the vehicle location at the time of the crash and the vehicle route. One more thing to remember is that EDRs only function when the vehicle is turned on. If you were in an accident in which somebody rammed his car into your stationary vehicle while the vehicle is not on, your EDR will not have information about this crash.

 

Thats a lot of information. Surprised with all the camera views some vehicles have there isn't a 15 second delay and record feature in the event of crash.

 

I forgot to add, Dealerships also use the EDR system to case of warranty abuse. I saw this with a guy who bought a Corvette and blew the engine. He tried to get a new engine under the warranty. The dealership checked the rpm's and speed and denied his claim. He exceeded the manufacturers recommended max rpm.
That can easily happen with a mis shift. Even if you bring a new Corvette for an oil change, they can check the EDR and void the warranty. Vet

 

My guess is, the newer cars have 360 degree camera. I'am sure they can access these cameras. Computers can record and store everything a car is doing. Vet

 

Weight of front seat occupants???? Do they have secret scales in the seats?

 

I'm so sick of this new world, give me the 1980's any day , even i go into a panic now when i accidentally leave my cell phone at home , they got us all good

 

My understanding is that the new generation of air bags can deploy differently depending on who is in the seat (little kid, big guy etc.), so yes, they can tell how much you weigh.

 

I run the service department for a Chevy dealer....First of all, you can't miss a shift on a new Corvette. Secondly, ain't no dealership in the world going to try to void a customer's warranty, unless they're completely inept and have no common sense. It's the worst business decision you could ever make: Yes lets piss off this customer that just spent 100k on their new car with us, so they don't buy another vehicle from us, ever, and also tell all their friends about us and what swindlers we are and post it all over the internet, just so we can make them pay for one new engine instead of having mother gm pay for it and keep them happy and buying new cars from us and getting work done here and buying parts and accessories from us so we keep making money off them....Doesn't make sense, does it?

We, as the dealership, cannot access the "EDR" and the "EDR" doesn't tell us what conditions were happening when a parameter was met or occurred to set a warning light, be that the "check engine light", ABS, Stabilitrak, traction control, air bag warning, etc. If they did do that, and we had access to that, the technicians job would be about 1 million times easier than it is, and we'd never have a "could not duplicate concern" to tell the customer again, which happens many times a week here. The cars simply don't do it, and we can't see it. That's why my techs, myself, or one of my porters have to waste countless hours driving customer vehicles miles and miles under many condtitions just to try to replicate a concern that happened once to the customer. If the car recorded it and told us about it, we wouldn't need to go through that, and our lives in the service department as a whole would be much easier and much less frustrating...... Now, we can record data in real time with a portable laptop with gm's diagnostics downloaded on it, but we still have to drive and replicate the concern with the machine hooked up and us in the car, physically there recording, but that technology has been around since the '80s.

Cars can't tell your exact weight, either. They have sensors in the seats to tell if someone has mistakenly placed a child or adult too small in the passenger seat so the car can disable the passenger side air bag. My 1972 Mach 1 has the same technology, only it was used to turn on the seat belt reminder light.

On the new vehicles, we as the dealership employees have to be careful, because the customer can (and oftentimes, does) covertly record us driving their car, and everything that is said inside as well as within close proximity of the outside of the car. We've had a couple instances where a tech has test driven a car trying to duplicate a concern, and muttered out loud something to the effect of "This guy is crazy, there isn't a damn thing wrong with this car." and the customer replays it back to us and gets pissed because the tech basically called them an idiot or a liar when they weren't there. There's also plenty of videos from 'Vette and Camaro owners on the internet secretly using the car's factory capability to record dipshit young techs flogging the hell out of their cars, and rightfully getting the dealership to fire the dumbass, buy that car back, and suing the dealership.

In no way am I defending dealerships, I'll admit that easily 25% of them are straight up dishonest, and another 50% have no idea what they're doing and screw things up/don't fix things right out of ignorance, and 25% of them are good, honest, and trying their best. I just had my 10 year anniversary at my job the beginning of this week, and I've left good jobs at other dealerships because they were in that first 75% I typed about....but I've never worked at any. single. one. that would try to void a warranty. It's business suicide.

 

Oh, and yes, the factories themselves have been doing this to you for years. That's a main reason why, even though I work at a new car dealer, I don't own anything from this millennium. What y'all think OnStar does and has been doing to you since it came out? And if you get one of those Geico or Progressive recorders that you plug into you diagnostic port, you're just giving them more info then they have a right to have about you, and if you think they want that info for your own good to get you lower insurance rates, you're sadly mistaken.

 

All I can tell you is I read what I posted about 10 years ago in an auto magazine.
From the article, the Corvette owner was abusive to the Corvette on multiple occasions.
I have to assume, the Dealership got real tired of this guy coming to the dealership and complaining his Corvette was garbage and wanted it repaired under warranty. Vet