atrielienz comments on New Car Question

[–] atrielienz@lemmy.world 6 points 5 months ago (4 children)

If you live in the USA:

Despite all of the arising automobile safety technologies, there are just a few that are required by regulations. These mandated safety functions consist of Seatbelts, Airbags, LATCH child safety seat system, Tire-Pressure Display, Electronic Stability Control, and Backup Cameras. All-new vehicles will certainly have that tech and in addition, the NHTSA recommends the following Motorist Assistance Technologies:

FWD Crash Warning

Automatic Emergency Situation Braking

Lane Departure Warning

Whether you can ask the dealer to turn them off is dependent entirely on whether the manufacturer will allow them to do that. Generally the manufacturer is the one who allows the dealer access to scan tool tech that would be able to do this and what access they have varies by manufacturer.

There are things you can potentially do yourself including pulling fuses or relays (where applicable), disconnecting antennas (depending on your level of skill to get access), and asking an aftermarket shop to physically disable certain systems.

The main problem with this is, 1. It could void your warranty which may mean you aren't eligible for some warrantable repairs including but not limited to recalls. 2. You could potentially do some damage to systems yourself by accident that you would be on the hook for. 3. You will likely lose other features you paid for. This is of course dependent on how the manufacturer integrated the systems you want to remove or disable.

It may be a better idea to see what options you have to avoid paying for those optional features and make your decision based on what manufacturers allow you to remove them when you order the vehicle. This may be better for you than trying to drive a dealer vehicle off the lot. It will take more time though.

I think if I were you and I had to have a newer car I would try to buy a used car that doesn't have these features you don't want.

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[+] SUDO@reddthat.com [S] 4 points 5 months ago (1 child)

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[–] atrielienz@lemmy.world 1 point 5 months ago

I wanted to make it particularly clear that some safety features are non-negotiable if you buy a new car from a dealer because the manufacturer is required by law to include them. But some people do believe that more safety features are required by law than actually are and even in the event that some of them are telemetry isn't, and may be disabled in some instance depending on the vehicle.

I personally am willing to fix my older car until it dies and I can't anymore over buying a brand new one but I've also never bought a brand new car in my life. I understand that my approach is possibly prohibitively expensive for quite a lot of people.

Anyway, I hope you find what you're looking for.

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[–] chillpanzee@lemmy.ml 3 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Adding to your point... "impaired driver detection" is already federal law, however it is still held up in the federal rulemaking process. There were (if I recall) deadlines in 2024 and 2026, but the rule making process can take a long ass time, so for now, it is still a future thing, but I mention it to say that there is broad congressional support for in-car surveillance tech. It's definitely coming.

The main problem with this is, 1. It could void your warranty

Manufacturers cannot void the warranty because of aftermarket modifications. They can deny claims for failures that are caused by the aftermarket modifications, but they cannot "void" a warranty. In several years of working on this stuff, the only times I ever saw voided warranties was when cars were salvage branded titles, such as from total loss accidents, flood recoveries and so on. And even in those cases, federal emissions equipment warranties remained in effect. There are reasonably strong consumer protections for aftermarket modifications that go back several decades. They don't entirely stop manufacturers from doing dodgy shit, but it has limited it.

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[–] atrielienz@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago* (1 child)

Good point, and a good thing to add to things to consider. Thank you.

I was more thinking along the lines of the different classes of warrantable repairs and different classes of recalls.

You could absolutely have a recall pertinent to your vehicle that turns out to be voluntary and the automaker refuses to honor it if that system has been deactivated, tampered with, or modified.

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[–] chillpanzee@lemmy.ml 1 point 5 months ago

You could absolutely have a recall pertinent to your vehicle that turns out to be voluntary and the automaker refuses to honor it if that system has been deactivated, tampered with, or modified.

Yeah, this could happen, but in most cases, you take your car to the dealership for recalls. And the dealer isn't the manufacturer, they don't care if you disable manufacturer shit. The dealer could get stinky and say no on the manufacturers behalf, but they would rather do the simple work and get paid for it, then try to upsell you on preventive maintenance like an oil change, tires, etc.. Unless you're doing something that'll come back to them (like odometer fraud), they're not gonna go out of their way (and spend 5x the time) to deny a recall claim that even the manufacturer doesn't give a shit about paying. That was my experience anyway.