Is It Possible To Disconnect Our Trucks From Network?

[Sojourner]

Without going all political, I have similar concerns to the OP. Forget terrorists or ransom attack hacks or EMP, we have a government that is attempting to mandate kill switches in all vehicles. For our safety, of course....

As I understand it from my research the kill switch software/hardware has been in most (?) vehicles since approx 2015 and manufacturers are just waiting for the govt mandate to turn it on.

A powerful tool that could be used for purposes both good and bad. That bothers me.

In the end, I guess I went all Dr. Strangelove (second part of the movie title, that is) because there will almost certainly be redundant systems used to activate such as system. Meaning, not just the modem discussed here, but also over the regular radio and SiriusXM antennas, wifi adapters/ports on the vehicle we don't know about, clever BT vectors, and of course, USB or OBDC connections at the dealership.

Meaning, me and my vehicle are not secure in a way I would like it to be. Mostly annoyed because I OWN it and no one should have veto power over my property. But that's the world we live in. We even have companies advancing the position that I really don't own my vehicle b/c the software in the black box is licensed (same argument forwarded by tech companies like Microsoft and Apple and Google regarding their products).

Two final comments. First, I'm pretty certain the redundant approaches I mentioned above are there b/c I did some work in this area before I retired from the military and these things are advertised as helpful redundancies rather than multiple exploitable backdoors.

Second, when I queried Ford about this all I could ever get out of the company was "see our privacy policy" (which really doesn't answer any of my questions and just adds to my concerns as Ford hoovers boatloads of personal info and driving telemetrics from me/us and is very uncooperative as to what they do with it).

I would love to be corrected about this; that I am wrong.

Hope I didn't stray across the "politics firewall" here.

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[HammaMan]

I think for now at least the hype is overblown. One thing to understand is that your modern vehicle is a snitch, recording every event from speed / door openings / seat belt utilization / gear shifter position / vehicle position. So far, publicly at least, the data has been pretty well guarded against misuse, but it's subject to a warrant. Ford's only public use as of yet is to tout how often the PPOB is used during power outages. That should give you an idea that watching is persistent / the vehicles are always talking to the mothership.

To ford's credit, given they're paying for an always-on data connection, they at least give us free access to things via fordpass app. GM, even if the vehicle is at home on wifi, they still want you to pay for base connectivity at $15/mo which doesn't even include wifi hotspot despite the fact that pretty much every vehicle with hotspot capability is always communicating back to the parent company. The same thing occurs with your phone, not just at the phone level, but LTE (and related evolutions) record data about your phone's variables as it's connected to the network thus introducing a whole other avenue of players to your telemetry (the vehicle having a cellular connection also subjects it to network operator scrutiny, in ford's case that's ATT, and the NSA is integrated deep into their network, verizon too).

The easiest method to end the vehicle's auto reporting is to disable the antennas, which run through little coax to the top of the vehicle. Killing the TCU is going to throw a code. I'll stay apprised of events as they occur and when it's time to restrict the system's access to its antennas, the community as a whole will likely begin to grumble.

 

[3Ranger11]

You simply aren't going to ever receive any OTA updates.

Not nearly the consequence that the early builds (2021) might have experienced, since those trucks HAVE received many improvements across the board during the first 12-18 months from release.

A mongoose OBD adapter and a $50 temporary license to FDRS will allow you to manually keep your truck up to date on your own terms.

Can't you just shut off OTA updates in the settings?

 

[fordtruckman2003]

Ford does let you opt out of much of the data collection BS, at least they tell you that you are opting out of it. Much like every privacy policy it is unknown if the company actually follows it.

 

[philmayfield]

I see you guys watched "Leave the world behind" this weekend too ?

 

[raydulce]

I think for now at least the hype is overblown. One thing to understand is that your modern vehicle is a snitch, recording every event from speed / door openings / seat belt utilization / gear shifter position / vehicle position. So far, publicly at least, the data has been pretty well guarded against misuse, but it's subject to a warrant. Ford's only public use as of yet is to tout how often the PPOB is used during power outages. That should give you an idea that watching is persistent / the vehicles are always talking to the mothership.

To ford's credit, given they're paying for an always-on data connection, they at least give us free access to things via fordpass app. GM, even if the vehicle is at home on wifi, they still want you to pay for base connectivity at $15/mo which doesn't even include wifi hotspot despite the fact that pretty much every vehicle with hotspot capability is always communicating back to the parent company. The same thing occurs with your phone, not just at the phone level, but LTE (and related evolutions) record data about your phone's variables as it's connected to the network thus introducing a whole other avenue of players to your telemetry (the vehicle having a cellular connection also subjects it to network operator scrutiny, in ford's case that's ATT, and the NSA is integrated deep into their network, verizon too).

The easiest method to end the vehicle's auto reporting is to disable the antennas, which run through little coax to the top of the vehicle. Killing the TCU is going to throw a code. I'll stay apprised of events as they occur and when it's time to restrict the system's access to its antennas, the community as a whole will likely begin to grumble.

Do you have a picture of the TCU disconnect versus the antennas? Thanks!

 

[diambo4life]

This is such a boomer tinfoil hat post lol. Trust me, if such an unlikely (0.0000000000001% chance) event were to occur, the last thing for you to worry about would be your truck.

 

[Dizz]

We all know the obvious friend
Just as well talk about this as lift kits and $600 tires ??

 

[Sojourner]

This is such a boomer tinfoil hat post lol.

That the concern isn't shared by non-boomers is one of the reasons we're asking the question (and are at this point).

Trust me,

Why (should we trust you)?

if such an unlikely (0.0000000000001% chance) event were to occur,

And what again is the unlikely event...? Methinks you and I have different ideas as to what is unlikely. And how are you so sure about the "unlikely event" being such a remote possibility?

Curious minds would like to know.

Cheers.

 

[diambo4life]

My comment was not one to invite debate. ? The premise of this post is pure comedic and should not elicit any serious conversation from any serious individual. ?? Feel free to believe in whatever garbage you want...? That's my 2 pennies ..

 

[Dizz]

Every forum Ive ever been involved with from golf clubs to motorcycles always has a small percentage of people like the above
Best to ignore this part of the population that has nothing better to do and offers nothing

 

[Trainmaster]

The communication is indeed somewhat redundant. Updates are sent by Wifi and cellular. Some cars have two cellular antennas. GPS is also involved.

There is no doubt that remotely disabling cars is an option. After all, it is clearly mentioned that some computer updates will disable the cars for an hour or so, and the preferred time of updates can be configured by the user.

The EU is mandating that cars' speed is enforced electrically. There has been much discussion about the same thing here in the US.

The OP's concerns are worthy of discussion. Whether you believe you are vulnerable or not, this is still a system in every car that most of us can be better educated.

Let's keep the conversation going.

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