Is my car listening to me?
December 13, 2019 5:58 AM Subscribe
I have to buy a new car. I've been test driving 2017 vehicles and they all have varying degrees of technology which is not present in my existing (very old) car, and not something I have kept up with in any way. I'm aware of the issues of smart phones/televisions - and the internet in general - in regards to the invasion of privacy, being recorded and "listened" to. But what is the tech in new cars doing? I presumed I could find something that definitively lists this information, but I have not.
Mine records all kind of stuff, including location and how many miles were driven on a given day.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 8:29 AM on December 13, 2019
posted by rabbitrabbit at 8:29 AM on December 13, 2019
No more than your phone is, and you're only in your car a small portion of your day. Your phone's essentially doing it 24/7.
posted by humboldt32 at 9:26 AM on December 13, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by humboldt32 at 9:26 AM on December 13, 2019 [2 favorites]
My insurance company wanted me to put a sensor in my car to monitor my driving for a month. I said Nope.
posted by theora55 at 11:44 AM on December 13, 2019
posted by theora55 at 11:44 AM on December 13, 2019
I get a monthly email about what's going on with my car (so far, just needed tire inflation) since I got it this year.
posted by jenfullmoon at 2:52 PM on December 13, 2019
posted by jenfullmoon at 2:52 PM on December 13, 2019
Absent a smartphone connection like Android Auto or Apple Carplay, would a car even be able to transmit whatever data it records? Cars aren't mobile Wifi units (or are they?)
My 2018 Honda has a maintenance minder which pops up with a little alert about oil changes, etc. There's a setting where I can see a running breakdown of mileage on my last 3 trips. But that's all internal to the car itself, no indication that the data is getting transmitted to anyone else who might be "listening." If anything, Honda sends me occasional emails about maintenance that doesn't jive with my own driving patterns -- assuming 12k miles per year, for instance -- which makes me think that Honda is explicitly not getting any information about my personal driving habits. (They have my email because I bought the car directly from the dealer, nothing nefarious there.)
posted by basalganglia at 3:36 PM on December 13, 2019
My 2018 Honda has a maintenance minder which pops up with a little alert about oil changes, etc. There's a setting where I can see a running breakdown of mileage on my last 3 trips. But that's all internal to the car itself, no indication that the data is getting transmitted to anyone else who might be "listening." If anything, Honda sends me occasional emails about maintenance that doesn't jive with my own driving patterns -- assuming 12k miles per year, for instance -- which makes me think that Honda is explicitly not getting any information about my personal driving habits. (They have my email because I bought the car directly from the dealer, nothing nefarious there.)
posted by basalganglia at 3:36 PM on December 13, 2019
Many cars have built-in GPS and cellular connections, so that the car can be tracked in case of theft or accidents. It's trickled down to non-luxury cars. These can be remotely activated - you don't bring your car to a dealer. So the cellular connection is always on regardless of whether you're paying for it or not.
A recent article: Honda Refuses to Track Stolen Accord Because Owner Didn't Pay for HondaLink: Report.
Tesla infamously logs every single user interaction with the car: Tesla releases new tool for people to retrieve ‘blackbox data’ after a crash. Tesla also allegedly located a parked vehicle and sent staff to its location to prevent its battery from "bricking" the car: “It’s A Brick” – Tesla Motors’ Devastating Design Problem.
The more "driver assistance" features that a car has means that it has sensors pointing both outwards and inwards capturing a wealth of data. The data would be stored on the car, if only for a temporary period, but there's no reason why the data couldn't be anonymized (which in practice is easily reversed) and sent back to a central location. I don't think privacy policies are a large concern for most dealerships.
posted by meowzilla at 4:09 PM on December 13, 2019 [2 favorites]
A recent article: Honda Refuses to Track Stolen Accord Because Owner Didn't Pay for HondaLink: Report.
Tesla infamously logs every single user interaction with the car: Tesla releases new tool for people to retrieve ‘blackbox data’ after a crash. Tesla also allegedly located a parked vehicle and sent staff to its location to prevent its battery from "bricking" the car: “It’s A Brick” – Tesla Motors’ Devastating Design Problem.
The more "driver assistance" features that a car has means that it has sensors pointing both outwards and inwards capturing a wealth of data. The data would be stored on the car, if only for a temporary period, but there's no reason why the data couldn't be anonymized (which in practice is easily reversed) and sent back to a central location. I don't think privacy policies are a large concern for most dealerships.
posted by meowzilla at 4:09 PM on December 13, 2019 [2 favorites]
Almost all recent model-year cars have Event Data Recorders, aka "the black box" for cars. (That article is from 2014 and they've only become more universal since.)
Here's a list of models equipped with them through MY-2014.
There was going to be a universal requirement, but it was rolled back recently.
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:10 PM on December 13, 2019
Here's a list of models equipped with them through MY-2014.
There was going to be a universal requirement, but it was rolled back recently.
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:10 PM on December 13, 2019
Washington Post just published this today, in which they hack open a new Chevy and find some alarming details.
posted by General Malaise at 8:08 AM on December 17, 2019
posted by General Malaise at 8:08 AM on December 17, 2019
Response by poster: Thanks everyone! This is great, and alarming, information.
posted by racersix6 at 6:40 PM on December 17, 2019
posted by racersix6 at 6:40 PM on December 17, 2019
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by mikek at 7:06 AM on December 13, 2019 [3 favorites]