Carmakers can legally record your texts, calls,

oldbrownhat

oldbrownhat

Member
Silver Supporter
Joined
Dec 11, 2008
Messages
6,891
Reaction score
21,100
Location
Pacific North-Wet
I think I posted a thread some time ago about car makers being pretty nonchalant about owners' privacy. Here's another. (There's a link to that article in this one. Seems "too bad to be true" but these days you just never know.)

Carmakers can legally record your texts, calls, rules judge

Seattle-based judge rules automakers collecting data via car infotainment does not meet threshold for privacy violation
"...a recent ruling by a judge in that state essentially says that a car’s computer is allowed to record any text or call from any phone connected to its infotainment system..."
​
I am SO glad I'm not in the market for a new vehicle.
 
Register to hide this ad
I believe that the laws on recording telephone conversations vary from state to state. What my fly in WA may get you in hot water in another state. Then there are the laws in other countries where these manufacturers peddle their wares. Unless there has been a major change in the law since I left, getting caught in the UK intercepting any kind of communications leads to a very large hammer dropping.
 
Michigan passed a law this year that all electronic devices must be hands free, so that doesn't leave many options to bypass the cars system.
 
We have never turned on all that, er, stuff. We have no manual because we will not use our phone to download it. Seems I remember all the warnings when computers were coming around.

You can be followed by your credit card usage. Every doctor's office now wants you to download an app to deal with them. We just go by the office(s).

Your smart phone is a whole other ball of wax. We pull off the road and return the call if important. Dinosaur.
 
I haven't looked up the particulars, but I saw/heard a congresswoman on Fox who was opposing a bill that would allow the car to monitor your driving and disable the engine if you were driving erratically (as determined by the car).

Talk about a can of worms.

I'll be keeping my current rigs for the foreseeable future.
 
Last edited:
444 Magnum said:
disable the engine if you were driving erratically (as determined by the car).
Click to expand...

Can the car determine why I'm driving erratically? Like, say if I was being chased by someone trying to kill me? If it shuts down and lets the truckload of ninjas on meth catch up, that's not good. OK, maybe you have different enemies, but you get my point.
 
Infotainment systems? All my cars are so old three of them have cassette players! Strangely enough, the oldest one just has a CD player.
 
A couple friends bought a "smart" Toyota recently. She was going to be the primary driver, so they paired her phone to the car. Well he was out driving and cruising "a fair amount" over the speed limit. The car texted the phone on record with the speed and GPS coordinates. The car ratted on him! She had some fun messing with him when he got home.
 
YeshuaIsa53 said:
We have never turned on all that, er, stuff. We have no manual because we will not use our phone to download it. Seems I remember all the warnings when computers were coming around.

You can be followed by your credit card usage. Every doctor's office now wants you to download an app to deal with them. We just go by the office(s).

Your smart phone is a whole other ball of wax. We pull off the road and return the call if important. Dinosaur.
Click to expand...
Hear, hear! Dinosaurs R Us, too :)


444 Magnum said:
I haven't looked up the particulars, but I saw/heard a congresswoman on Fox who was opposing a bill that would allow the car to monitor your driving and disable the engine if you were driving erratically (as determined by the car).
Click to expand...
Is there a Go Fund Me campaign to buy her a really BIG megaphone?
 
I'm not a heart surgeon awaiting a transplant heart, I'm not a lawyer with a client on death row, and if The Boss is having a heart attack, there's not much I can do about it while in the car 30 miles away. That and I'd have to turn my phone on to answer it.
 
Before retirement I was the national safety director of an over the road trucking company. My cell phone never left my side as I was on call for 500 DOT drivers and senior management.

Checking driver's cellphone records was SOP for post accident investigations. I was enforcing company policy prohibiting "distracted driving". You can do this when you issue company cellphones.

Addiction comes in many forms and in my twilight years of my career I learned just how powerful the addiction to cellphones was. On more than one occasion I was contacted by a driver who had just completed his statutory rest break in his logbook but had stayed up all night playing video games instead of sleeping. Scary thought huh? Did the driver want me to tell him to hit the road anyway? More likely they needed a few more hours of break time to finish up the game.

I had a driver try to front me off in a safety meeting by challenging company policy. The very next day he slammed into the back of a rig stopped at a Border Patrol checkpoint......yep, on the phone. Life Flight from the scene and years of physical therapy later and he still ain't anything like normal.

I guess you could say that I have very strong convictions on distracted driving. I would like to see an engine cut off when a cellphone signal is detected in the cabin.
 
Well, if Mazda is recording my calls and texts from my car, which are few and far between, they are gonna be mighty disappointed with the content.
 
444 Magnum said:
I haven't looked up the particulars, but I saw/heard a congresswoman on Fox who was opposing a bill that would allow the car to monitor your driving and disable the engine if you were driving erratically (as determined by the car).

Talk about a can of worms.

I'll be keeping my current rigs for the foreseeable future.
Click to expand...

Yes, I heard about this too...

Apparently the legislation has already passed which will REQUIRE kill switches on all light vehicles starting with the 2026 model year.

In the future, these systems may also be able to "sniff" the air inside the vehicle for "contaminants" also potentially leading to the vehicle to be disabled. (How would this system be able to discern between a drunk driver and a drunk person in the passenger seat being driven home by a DD?)

This is different from the interlock systems already legalized in some states to deal with chronic alcohol abusers on probation.

And yes, there is concern, for example, that if one is driving erratically to avoid a potential incident - animals? road rage? accident avoidance? - then the kill switch could be activated disabling the vehicle and stranding the occupants of the vehicle...or worse.

What could go wrong?
 
Not for us

If I have the funds to buy a new vehicle, I have the funds to buy/build a mildly upgraded restomod of some really interesting vehicle and actually enjoy the driving experience.
 
MetalMan said:
Apparently the legislation has already passed which will REQUIRE kill switches on all light vehicles starting with the 2026 model year.
Click to expand...

Not that this would ever happen in Kalifornia, but is it possible there would come a time that all gas powered cars would be restricted/banned to a time and/or place.

Similar to the law that SUV, and pick-up and big rig trucks powered by petrol or diesel engines be taken off sale by 2035?
Nah, never gonna happen....
https://www.drive.com.au/news/california-2035-petrol-diesel-vehicle-ban/
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

oldbrownhat
Wacky bylaw calls of 2024
Replies
12
Views
631
S42N8
S42N8
oldbrownhat
Rare Beatles recording turns up in Vancouver BC record store
Replies
3
Views
423
oldbrownhat
oldbrownhat
biku324
Two-Fingered Brad sets a Record!
Replies
8
Views
787
steelslaver
steelslaver
DWalt
Is this a mileage record?
2
Replies
22
Views
866
glowe
glowe
H
A new record for warmish
Replies
7
Views
281
Rustyt1953
Rustyt1953

Latest posts

Back
Top