Cell Phones Disable Keys for High-End Cars 463
Geoffrey.landis writes "Turns out if you have a top-end Nissan car, your cellphone may erase your car key. '"We discovered that if the I-Key touches a cellphone, outgoing or incoming calls have the potential to alter the electronic code inside the I-Key," Nissan spokesman Kyle Bazemore said. "The car won't start and the I-Key cannot be reprogrammed."'"
That's a crying shame... (Score:5, Insightful)
Stupid New Cars (Score:5, Insightful)
My mom has a ford escape, there have been two wiring recalls and the wiring has failed on two separate occasions. They had to completely replace the main board!
I can understand that putting electronics in cars seems like a good idea, but it's not.
It's DANGEROUS!
All microwaves? (Score:2, Insightful)
Cannot be reprogrammed? (Score:5, Insightful)
If you expose magnetic media to random magnetic forces you lose data... but it does not destroy the medium itself.
OTOH if you pass a Sensormatic EAS tag through an EMF it destroys the medium.
Why would you make a key like that? What's going on here? Who's running this show?
who thought this was a good idea? (Score:4, Insightful)
why can't we just use a bit of properly carved metal to start the vehicle without throwing in a bunch of junk?
Re:That's a crying shame... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Stupid New Cars (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't think it's the electronics per se, but rather the attitude creeping in from the computer industry. I've noticed it in other industries as well, such as television and phone service. Faults that wouldn't have been tolerated ten years ago are suddenly cropping up everywhere. People have become desensitised to failure with electronics because of computers. Sloppy QA because of the training/expertise/staff overlap with computers.
And at the same time, another problem is preventing this from being solved. People put up with it. The way capitalism is supposed to work is that if somebody fucks up, you can go with a competitor. But now it's trendy to complain and then forget about it until next time something goes wrong. Shitty mobile phone reception? Moan about it, but don't ask for your money back. Crashing computer? Complain to your neighbourhood geek, but don't demand a refund. Evil dictator in charge of your country? Re-elect the fucker! When there's no consequences to providing a shitty service, that's exactly what people will give you.
Re:Stupid New Cars (Score:5, Insightful)
The public want blingful features, the public are no longer mechanically literate, and the public will not vocally insist on reliable vehicles. This creates tremendous pressure on makers to offer stupid shite at a competitive price.
Even good features like electronically controlled automatic transmissions are often poorly engineered and are brutally expensive to replace when they fail.
As an aside, tool prices have remained quite low, and if you are the sort of person who isn't afraid to learn you can save many thousands of dollars by doing your own work. The money you save easliy buys good equipment you can use for a lifetime.
Never has an auto repair course at the local community college been a better value. You can free yourself from ever having to buy a new car, free yourself from being at the mercy of undertrained or unethical automobile repair outfits, and know the person who worked on your car gave a shit.
If you can understand computers, it isn't a great leap to understand other technology, and as usual the internet can help.
Re:Stupid New Cars (Score:1, Insightful)
What about better mileage, less emissions, and more reliable mechanics [wikipedia.org]?
If you move away from the engine you've got things like anti-lock brakes which are an electronically-controlled aspect of a primary safety system. (Though, while I don't know for sure, I suspect a failure in the ABS controller would likely not keep the brakes from operating normally.)
Re:Stupid New Cars (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:This is precisely why... (Score:4, Insightful)
Perspective
People got along for thousands of years without cars, so maybe you should consider getting rid of yours.
Re:That's a crying shame... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:who thought this was a good idea? (Score:3, Insightful)
thinking about it. Eventually it feels like the car just knows you.
Sometimes it can be confusing, like if you get out of the car while it's running to let a friend borrow it. It gives a beep to let you know -- but if you don't remember to take the key out of your pocket and give it to your friend, they can drive away but won't be able to start the car once they turn it off. That's never actually happened to me, but it's just something annoying that could happen with the system.
But it's still one of the nicest little conveniences I've seen added to a car in quite a while.
Re:That's a crying shame... (Score:1, Insightful)
Are you old enough to remember the billboards advertising VW bugs which said, "Do you remember when you could tune a car with a screwdriver instead of a committee?"
Re:Stupid New Cars (Score:2, Insightful)
When it comes down to it, how much "mechanical" engineering will it take to build an engine that will get the power for the size and efficiency of a modern engine? Combine that with the fuel efficiency and emission requirements being forced on modern cars, how do you think any mechanical system will be able to determine how much air/fuel mixture is needed so that the catalytic converters can best convert any unwanted gasses that may result from the combustion process? Have you ever seen how complex a hydraulic control system for a 4- or 5-speed auto is? And it's just there to make a "current speed + how far pedal pushed down -> gear to use" calculation, too.
For an example, look at the 2003 Honda Accord I own. Computers and electronics control the air/fuel mixture, the spark ignition timing, and even the gear changing on the auto tranny. How can you replace these electronics with mechanical processes and maintain the same amount of reliability and performance? And these are only some of the parts I would consider "critical" in an engine. That is also excluding functions like ABS and airbag deployement (I.E., not only when to deploy them, but what "stage", as modern airbags have multiple stages that are used depending on severity of a crash and if the occupant is wearing a seat belt).
The real problem is not electronics, but what you alluded in your last sentence: poor engineering. If a part becomes a common point of failure on a type of car, whether it's a mechanical part or part of the electronics, it's from bad engineering at some level in designing that car. It could be that the part wasn't built to expected specs, or the part is being used in a way that it's not designed for. But in the end, it's still bad engineering. And that could be the result of any number of causes (oversight, cutting corners, etc.). Just because it's "electronics" doesn't make it any more prone to failure.
Re:That's a crying shame... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:That's a crying shame... (Score:3, Insightful)
Yeah... But that's a false dichotomy. Could just as easily take the key or hide it. No need to be an asshole and erase it.
Re:who thought this was a good idea? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Cannot be reprogrammed? (Score:3, Insightful)
If you expose magnetic media to random magnetic forces you lose data... but it does not destroy the medium itself.
OTOH if you pass a Sensormatic EAS tag through an EMF it destroys the medium.
Why would you make a key like that? What's going on here? Who's running this show?
Re:Except they do... (Score:5, Insightful)
The US is very different from the UK. The UK isn't much bigger then a good number of states. In some places in the US distances are vast and the population is low. Ever wonder why people in the US and Australia tend to drive the same types of cars?
Oh and my car? One is a Mazda 3 and the other a Dodge Intrepid. Both get pretty good milage. And my commute is only 14 miles each way and I carpool with my wife. I would say that you are the one that needs to get off your high horse. The US is different from the UK. I happen to like European style cars but I can tell you that they are not ideally suited to the US.
Re:That's a crying shame... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Stupid New Cars (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Ah but then you can lock them with wifi ..... (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:That's a crying shame... (Score:2, Insightful)