This warning is like 10 years late.
If I ever going to get a car, it's going to be a used one from around 2005.
this post was submitted on 01 Oct 2026
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Some cars you can just pull the fuse for the modem. You lose a lot of features, but that's the trade off.
It would depend on the features lost (I've heard rumours that some cars lock the trays or reclining the seats behind the modem access) and on whether such a modification would run afoul of the certification processes needed to keep the car on the street, legally speaking.
For much less mental health hassle, I could simply search for an older car.
Just do the antenna then. Hopefully it doesn't brick itself when it loses signal.
There are kits you can get that pretend to be a valid modem to your car, so that you can disable the modem without losing any other features. They are usually between $50 to $100
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My 2013 cars do not have any way to phone home.
We've got a 2015 Toyota Highlander with only Bluetooth for the headunit.
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My truck is 2006. It has a cd player.
Well now that's an interesting one! It has been a long while since I last saw a CD player in a vehicle.
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Cars should not connect to the internet. Or at minimum have an easy way to physically disable the internet (ex: a physical off switch for the modem).
No, there are many convenient things you can do with having cars connect to the Internet. I don't agree that that's the answer to this problem.
The answer is that Stallman was right, software should be free as in freedom (i.e. among other things, modifiable by the user), and that includes software that powers cars. If we lived in that world, cars would only connect to the Internet for purposes chosen by the user.
But we don't live in that world so cars shouldn't connect to the Internet. If we need Internet in the car we can use out phones. At least then we only have one invasive thing.
That world should still be the societal end goal.
Yeah when we get there. We have a whole shit ton of privacy issues to resolve before we go making arguments that cars should be online.
Wait until you find out that other car's smart features could be used to spy on you. All those Tesla and Waymo cameras just ripe for the picking.
A big surveillance hive swarm of vehicles.
HAH, "could be." Bro they're already selling your driving data to your insurance company and they're using it to raise your rates, have been since like 2013.
"Could"? Will!
"Will"? Are!
"Are?" Aye!
"Aye?" No, ARRRRRRRRRRRRR!
Oohhhh, who lives in a pineapple under the sea?
Wow, the Guardian on par with the speeds of IE6.
Theyve been spying for 15 years. They can control you too. Why do you think they wanted electric steering and to get rid of throttle cables and "safe" automatic braking? Control. They can lock your doors and drive you anywhere, they can slam on your brakes as a semi truck is behind you if they deem you a threat to dear Leader.
The power they have now to get rid of undesireables , and sweep it all under the rug is a fascists dream.
GM started installing OnStar in some vehicles starting in the 1997 model year so they've had the ability since then.
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Just Lol for Life need a spy chief for this??
That is one of the primary reasons that I am interested in the Slate electric pickup in the U.S. No internet -- they do have an optional module that one can add if you really want the extra monitoring/controls that having a connected vehicle provides. Music/gps/etc is all via your own device. I don't know of any other modern vehicle in the U.S. I can get that has that option. (my 14 yr old car is getting to the stage where repairs are more than it is worth)
Our car was 11 years old and needed a lot of work. We got rid of it for a 22 year old car that was in mint shape. So now no infotainment tracking or anything. 😛
are the same people concerned about car data switching to analog phones?
Phones are grabbing all the same data.
NO! YA'LL THINK SO ??
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