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Modern cars’ smart features could be used to spy on you, drivers warned (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 1 month ago by to c/privacy@programming.dev
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[–] 1 point 1 month ago (4 children)

It replaces a cable with an overly complex potentiometer with circuit board and wiring that will fail and be irreplaceable 10 Years after the vehicle is Sold, rendering it unuseable.

you mean a TPS? Easily replaced. Before that, throttle cables would get stuck after a few years of dirt and corrosion.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 month ago* (3 children)

    Wrong. Ive owned over 20 cars and never once had a throttle cable issue. Throttle cables on 50 year old vehicles work just fine. Several have had tps issues. And good luck buying one when they stop making the exact model for your specific vehicle when the factory in China quits making them.

    Stop defending idiotic tech in cars that serves to only make shareholders money, like making everything a screen with subscription e brakes (joke).

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  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

    Throttle cables on 50 year old vehicles work just fine.

    No, they don't. They require regular maintenance, like very other mechanical part on your car. My 1980 Mercedes and equally old Honda motorcycle are both cable-controlled. The linkage in the Mercedes is all sorts of worn out, to the point I can't accelerate at full throttle anymore. And guess what? Mercedes doesn't make those parts anymore.

    Several have had tps issues.

    A Throttle Position Sensor, as you understand it, is not used on electronic throttle bodies. At all. Inside the throttle body, the stepper motor itself (which is not a potentiometer) feeds the position back to the ECU.

    And good luck buying one when they stop making the exact model for your specific vehicle when the factory in China quits making them.

    TPS sensors were often shared among several models in a lineup, sometimes carried to newer models, and even over different manufacturers at times. They're stupid simple to make and fix.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 month ago (1 child)

    I don't agree. And yes I understand the differences but I was grouping them together for simplicity.

    OK cool, you go make a tps sensor or a stepper motor TB and I'll go make a throttle cable. Let's see who can do it far easier. Answer: a fucking cable.

    You can keep your new rolling spyware computer cars that require a dealer computer to change oil. Not me.

    Do you hate right to repair or what?

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  • [–] 1 point 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

    OK cool, you go make a tps sensor or a stepper motor TB and I'll go make a throttle cable. Let's see who can do it far easier. Answer: a fucking cable.

    You know what's funny here. You gotta get a cable made to spec these days, cause 1) nobody makes a cable throttle anymore so new OEM cables are scarce, and 2) it's hard to find premade aftermarket cables that don't snap in 5000 miles, so you gotta find a shop to do it, or you DIY it and buy the parts and spend the time measuring everything out. Even moreso if it's for a custom project. That takes time and is a very tedious process. I know that because I've had cables made for my Honda XR500. It's a fully manual bike, choke and everything. No computers anywhere, just a big carb and a big jug - but with modern LED lightning.

    Do you hate right to repair or what?

    Right to Repair's message isn't "go back to carbs". Our message is "give me the ability to repair and modify MY shit that I bought and paid for any way I goddamn well please"

    To fight against tech progression is antithetical to the entire point of R2R. We just want to fix it without having to obtain drawings/parts/tools from factories/manufacturers at obscene prices, or sometimes not at all.

    The fact that modern vehicles are rolling spyware has nothing to do with R2R, and everything to do with the shareholders demanding the imaginary money line continue to go up forever steeper, for that sweet, sweet YoY increase bonus. THAT is where your issue lies. Not at some random guy who happens to enjoy making tech his bitch.

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