98
Why Your New Car Is Nearly Impossible to Fix (And It’s Getting Worse)
(www.carsandhorsepower.com)
this post was submitted on 13 Jun 2026
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Interesting thing here; I drive a 2013 vehicle. Other than regular maintenance, the only repair it’s ever needed was a rear bumper replacement and a bit of bodywork when someone rear ended me at a stoplight.
Contrast this with vehicles from the 1950s-1990s where sure, you could affordably repair them yourself or at the local garage, BUT that was something that became a regular event after the vehicle was 4-5 years old.
Personally, I’m more concerned with how manufacturers are closing off sections of the software in their vehicles such that it can’t be audited, security reviewed, independently patched, or modified to prevent all the telematics from flowing back to them.
I still don't get how telemetry is even legal.
If I purchase a vehicle from a previous owner, I do not have any agreement with the manufacturer regarding collection of my data.
Clickwrap should have been made illegal when they started doing it a quarter century ago. If I put a tracker on your car, I'm a criminal, but if every automaker drops a clause into the "user terms" on their vehicle sales, then every car you buy gets tracked forever, perfectly legally.
You agree when you use the car.
At least that is the legal claim.
There is a disclaimer when you start the car.
Wait... Every car I ever rented, borrowed or owned never showed a disclaimer anywhere. What are you driving that shows a disclaimer?
What choice do consumers have, anyway? Return the car cause you don't agree with the disclaimer?
and then what are you gonna buy instead, a second hand car from the mid 90s before they all started adding telemetry modules.
I did literally that.
The real solution is regulatory, though, because obviously my boycott has done absolutely fuck-all to change manufacturer behavior.
A simple hardware modification is all you need there.
Find the antenna for the on-board modem.
Disconnect the cable that leads between that antenna and the car's brain.
If necessary (if the car gives annoying/disabling errors after step #2), connect a high-ohm resistor between that antenna connector and the car's ground.
After that, the car will forever think that it's outside of signal range. And since operating while outside of cell service range is something even the most modern of cars still need to do, all of the car's essential functions will still work. You'll lose any internet connectivity features, of course. But in exchange, you'll have completely and permanently disabled any possibility of remote telemetry.
Until you take the car in for servicing, at which point all that data will get downloaded to the service module and from there be transferred to the manufacturer.
Losing Internet connectivity features is a sacrifice many aren't willing to make, unfortunately. Besides, this modification is a good way to void your warranty. And prob insurance too.
Yeah this.
Cars are storing so much data that the auto manufacturers were using "mechanics having access to all your telemetry data" as one of their big reasons people should vote against Right-to-Repair in MA.
Nobody really questioned what kind of data the cars store, or for how long. Nobody cared that this implied dealer mechanics already have access to all that data, and for some reason we are supposed to trust dealer mechanics with that data more than independents and shadetrees, or even ourselves?
No matter, the propaganda must've worked because the ballot initiative failed.
Moral of the story, listen to what people don't say. It's often more important.
I've known enough mechanics to know... Maybe.. BIG MAYBE... I may trust them with a screwdriver but nothing more complicated