Modding Your Car May Become Illegal
#22
I like my car. I will resist the efforts of the U.S. government to intrude on my privacy. The government should have to PROVE that whatever modification we choose to use is, indeed, something either unsafe, or not in the best interests of the public. I sincerely hope that I can continue to enjoy my car, hobby, and all other thing that belong to me. If not...then I will...
#23
Honestly I see both sides of the argument. Cheating safety features should not be allowed, period. But if the government wants safe cars on the road, then federal mandatory yearly inspections should be enforced and LEO's should actively cite cars with bad tires/rims, cracked windwhields, lights out, brake noise (metal on metal), u-joint squeak, noise (Harleys), etc. But it's not about safety, it's about greedy automakers wanting a piece of a pie they are not getting, absorbing a liability when mods go wrong, or proving a mod caused a failure. But on the other hand, how many of their own warranty items do they try to get out form under? GM, Ford, & Mopar do this thousands of times per day. They put an inferioir product out and some people find the weaknesses due to harsh driving environments while other drivers just drive around never knowing that same part will fail long out of the warranty period because it has not been stressed like the others that failed "prematurely."
Heavily copyrighted intellectual property rights owners (big retail name brands, music, movies) could not make this (change YOUR OWN copy) happen, so the car manufacturers won't either, but they won't give up I don't imagine. That's what worries me. I also agree the small voting group us modders are won't sway the law, but I hope the aftermarket vendors work this out to our benefit. It'll be an interesting fight if it picks up any steam.
Last edited by Dinosoar; 4/22/15 at 12:45 PM.
#24
Ok, here's why this is bad (from the Manufacturer's standpoint):
Guy goes and modifies his car's computer to play around with it. He messes with the throttle response.
Guy goes out, his throttle goes stupid, he isn't skilled enough to know what to do, and boom he drives off a cliff/into a mountain/oncoming semi.
Before you say "Aw, that ain't gonna happen..." Yeah, tell that to that Lexus driver who killed himself and the occupants for an accelerator issue and didn't know what to do, just kept on driving and accelerating until he couldn't make a turn.
Toyota had to do a LOT of work (and it's still ongoing) to fix this problem permanently. (Long story short... they modified pedals, require *all* floor mats to be tethered to the seat track, and made the computer automatically chop the throttle when the brake is applied, regardless of the throttle pedal's position. In other words... they made it better for a dumber driver. )
So guy wrecks, dies and a bunch of other people get hurt/killed too.
Wives, husbands, and relatives find out he played with the car. "BUT THEY SHOULDN'T HAVE LET HIM BE ABLE TO DO THIS RABBLE RABBLE WE SUE YOU GTOYFORCHRYBMOTM!!"
THAT is the deal. And I'm not terribly inclined to take the SEMA or EFF's stance on this, to be honest. For the same reasoning is why Cessna, Piper and a few others nearly went out of the airplane business, for that kind of liability for a *52 year old airplane* being their liability. The case did cause them to stop making light aircraft for a while. Go look it up.
Yes, it's a little bit apples and oranges, but the point remains. There ought to be some stuff you can't play with without authorization and knowledge.
But then again.. the simple thing is to say "Do it, and we wash our hands of the entire dang car, even the speakers. You are on your own." Or, "It's out of warranty, we are no longer going to be liable for a **** THING."
That should be the decision here.
Guy goes and modifies his car's computer to play around with it. He messes with the throttle response.
Guy goes out, his throttle goes stupid, he isn't skilled enough to know what to do, and boom he drives off a cliff/into a mountain/oncoming semi.
Before you say "Aw, that ain't gonna happen..." Yeah, tell that to that Lexus driver who killed himself and the occupants for an accelerator issue and didn't know what to do, just kept on driving and accelerating until he couldn't make a turn.
Toyota had to do a LOT of work (and it's still ongoing) to fix this problem permanently. (Long story short... they modified pedals, require *all* floor mats to be tethered to the seat track, and made the computer automatically chop the throttle when the brake is applied, regardless of the throttle pedal's position. In other words... they made it better for a dumber driver. )
So guy wrecks, dies and a bunch of other people get hurt/killed too.
Wives, husbands, and relatives find out he played with the car. "BUT THEY SHOULDN'T HAVE LET HIM BE ABLE TO DO THIS RABBLE RABBLE WE SUE YOU GTOYFORCHRYBMOTM!!"
THAT is the deal. And I'm not terribly inclined to take the SEMA or EFF's stance on this, to be honest. For the same reasoning is why Cessna, Piper and a few others nearly went out of the airplane business, for that kind of liability for a *52 year old airplane* being their liability. The case did cause them to stop making light aircraft for a while. Go look it up.
Yes, it's a little bit apples and oranges, but the point remains. There ought to be some stuff you can't play with without authorization and knowledge.
But then again.. the simple thing is to say "Do it, and we wash our hands of the entire dang car, even the speakers. You are on your own." Or, "It's out of warranty, we are no longer going to be liable for a **** THING."
That should be the decision here.
Last edited by houtex; 4/22/15 at 07:20 PM.
#25
Frankly I agree with this. As much as it concerns me that they are trying to backdoor car owners with this DMCA angle I also agree that when you decide to start messing around with anything on your car be it mechanical or software that the manufacturer should have a right to say "Fine, you want to play with your toy? It's not good enough as is? Zero warranty! You just assumed full responsibility. Don't come crying to us." That's the risk you take if you want to play the mod game. It's part of the reason my Mustang is still stock.
#26
A few folks connected to the industry have already suggested that this is what the automakers actually want out of this push, for the law to state that if you modify the car at all, at least in the area of things that touch major components, they have no liability for the car whatsoever moving forward. The argument being that this is just their road to actually get there.
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