First: It’s funny, because it is happening to Russians
Second: It’s fucking scary, because it can happen everywhere. Fuck cars that rely on digital services.
Porsche Cars in Russia Shut Down After Satellite System Failure
Submitted 1 day ago by throws_lemy@reddthat.com to technology@lemmy.world
https://headlinesmonitor.com/porsche-russia-system-failure-vts-immobilized/
Comments
RalfWausE@blackneon.net 1 day ago
bigFab@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
What’s up with hating every person born in Russia? Will never get it. I mean, a car shutting down sounds like life-threatening.
brognak@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 hours ago
This isn’t happening to every person in Russia, it’s happening to every person in Russia with a modern Porsche.
Assumptions can be made about the sample set.
Goldholz@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 hours ago
The little thing called “invading ukraine” and those that drive porsches are not your average citicens but the upper crust buddys of putin who are as guilty as putin
AsoFiafia@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
This is why I own a ‘79. I could’ve gotten something way newer, but it was a great price for a reliable machine and it’s in great condition. Easy to work on if need be and I can’t be stopped from driving it. Wish I would’ve thought about the lack of airbags, but what’s a drive without a little(lot of) danger?
lemming741@lemmy.world 1 day ago
The six miles of vacuum tubing under the hood will absorb most of the crash energy.
titanicx@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
I have a 2014 and a 2017 with no required connections. Your point?
ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 1 day ago
I’ll keep my unkillable Gen 2 Prius. 281,000 miles on the odometer, original engine, replaced the hybrid battery a few years back with a brand new one from Toyota (that I installed myself after convincing a dealership to just sell one to me) and knock on wood, but that’s the last maintenance item I’ve even had to spend any money on.
Too bad quality dropped off after the Gen 2 years.
rezad@lemmy.world 1 day ago
first they disabled Russian porsches and I didn’t care because I am not a russian owner of a porsche.
then they came for Ukrainian tractors and I didn’t care because I am not an Ukrainian owner of a tractor.
then step by step everything was digitally locked and I owned nothing and I was not really happy.
echodot@feddit.uk 1 day ago
Just got a dishwasher and it doesn’t even have an app. How can that be?
SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
Just got a toilet and it doesn’t even have an app. How can that be?
rezad@lemmy.world 1 day ago
are you from the past?
WanderingThoughts@europe.pub 1 day ago
and I owned nothing
Companies love that, until everybody is completely in debt and they learn you can’t seize property from people that don’t own anything.
rezad@lemmy.world 15 hours ago
I think you are too nice.
they are actively trying to own everything.
And then they don’t need to seize anything, because you are forced to work to the bone (even more than you are right now) to just afford your own house rent/property tax.Companies love to become like old Lord and counts and own the land/products and you just rent and work for them.
jaybone@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
By then they will already own all the property.
finitebanjo@lemmy.world 3 hours ago
I’m seeing a lot of sudden unexpected failures in Russia these days, I wonder if they’re pulling out the old cold war style subterfuge/sabotage playbooks from the CIA.
einkorn@feddit.org 1 day ago
[…] and what owners can do next.
Sell their Porsche and buy a car that can’t be locked remotely?
Jrockwar@feddit.uk 1 day ago
In 2025? Is that even a thing?
RipLemmDotEE@lemmy.today 1 day ago
You can disable the modem on new Toyotas and they run fine. The dealership will bitch and moan but they can be disabled.
adespoton@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
One way to tell: disable the cellular modem in your car and see if it still operates.
shininghero@pawb.social 1 day ago
There’s the upcoming Slate trucks, but those are scheduled for Q4 2026.
crazycraw@crazypeople.online 1 day ago
I took the question initially in jest, then sat back and thought about it. fuck.
RobotToaster@mander.xyz 1 day ago
Sell them to whom?
einkorn@feddit.org 1 day ago
Recycling companies?
phutatorius@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
It’s even worse than that. Porsches are locked by default, and can only be enabled remotely.
nyan@lemmy.cafe 1 day ago
I doubt most owners of recent-model luxury-brand cars in Russia are average joes for which this is their only transport. I therefore find my sympathy to be somewhat limited.
aarRJaay@lemmy.world 1 day ago
You mean the ‘M’ word don’t you
nyan@lemmy.cafe 1 day ago
The “O” word, actually: oligarchs (or their relatives or best buddies). Chances are that at least some of them are under sanction in more civilized countries.
garretble@lemmy.world 23 hours ago
I feel like I got my car at the perfect time:
It has Android Auto and CarPlay, and it’s a manual so there’s no way for it to turn on or off remotely.
Now I just have to make sure it survives until I die.
boonhet@sopuli.xyz 21 hours ago
It’s a voluntary anti-theft measure I believe. Prevents it from being started without the owner’s consent. Which immobilizers are also supposed to do, but we all know how well those work.
eleitl@lemmy.zip 11 hours ago
Living in Russia in Moscow/Petersburg is actually really nice these days.
someguy3@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Vehicle Tracking System (VTS) — a security module designed to prevent theft but now shutting down cars unexpectedly.
Also, what a strangely written article.
Typhoon@lemmy.ca 22 hours ago
Remember when they started this with games? It would phone home every time you started it up and make sure your license was valid.
And then companies stopped supporting the game or went out of business. And all of a sudden no one could play those games anymore.
Now they’re doing it with cars. How long until that expensive car you bought is no longer supported and you have to upgrade to the new model?
XeroxCool@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Owners welcomed theft deterrent like that. OnStar is probably the main original US service, found in GM cars. I think Subaru picked them up at some point, but basically all new cars have the option to have manufacturer tracking and app-based vehicle connections for remote start, tracking, service alerts, diagnostic uploads, etc
SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
But who steals a Porsche? 1 in 4 Lexus SUVs are stolen because where they end up in eastern europe and Africa, people want reliable vehicles. Top two stolen vehicles by far are Civics and Accords for that reason. No one steals Land Rovers.
jaybone@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
Maybe Russia started jamming satellite signals and did this to themselves.
Magister@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Well, it’s because Russia is jamming GPS signal, it affects planes, cars, everything relying on GPS.
RipLemmDotEE@lemmy.today 1 day ago
That’s a huge leap to assume GPS blocking was also blanketing other 2 way satellite communication frequencies.
bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 1 day ago
None of these things need GPS to function. Even planes. A compass, a map and a clock go a long way.
TimeNaan@lemmy.world 1 day ago
For planes maybe it’s not strictly necessary but makes things way safer
noxypaws@pawb.social 1 day ago
Good thing this is a completely optional “feature” that I’d never pay for
sentient_loom@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
“smart” cars
echodot@feddit.uk 1 day ago
Why not do cars need internet access in order to start?
I understand having auxiliary services the network connected but surely the failure mode should just be an error on the screen but otherwise the car should still function. It’s not like operating without internet access is dangerous or anything.
Also, why don’t we just do that, cut Russias internet access, it seems like it would cause of chaos.
SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
It’s the reason why no one steals Teslas. Easy to brick, impossible to charge on their system if stolen.
Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 1 hour ago
I’m sure there’s plenty of other reasons to not steal a tesla. It being a mobile surveillance device being one of them. Also, if I was going to steal a car, I’d pick one with better build quality and one that doesn’t have a different fire exit than the normal way to exit that I’d probably be going for if my car was suddenly on fire.
jaybone@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
As for “cut russias internet”, I imagine they have a lot of services hosted on their own infrastructure within Russia.
Of course probably a lot of people use western services like social media and e-commerce. Which would piss off a lot of Russian people. So you could have western governments require sanctions on services to reject Russian traffic.
One of the downsides though is there are probably a lot of people who disagree with the regime and want to get info in and out. You push them closer to isolation like North Korea. So called “winning of hearts and minds” might be better served by keeping things open.
But what do I know.
JohnEdwa@sopuli.xyz 1 day ago
Because it’s the anti theft system and immobilizer.
It would be pretty useless if it could be defeated by putting some foil on the antenna so that it loses network connection and defaulted to allowing you to drive.jaybone@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
How does it validate that you are a valid driver? Do you enter a PIN or something?
Gammelfisch@lemmy.world 19 hours ago
Where are the accident videos? Russian drivers are shit and a Porsche losing power turns into a target.
rekabis@lemmy.ca 3 hours ago
And this is why I will never own a vehicle manufactured after 2006.
I have just too little control with newer vehicles, be it having to auth with the mothership with every repair I do at home just to get it to start up, or even failing to start up in the first place when the mothership could not be contacted.