Signal From NPR Station Bricks Car Entertainment Systems

 

You know how in North Korea, all the radios can only receive one station and it’s the Government’s propaganda station? Mazda drivers in Seattle can relate.

Some Mazda owners in the Seattle area are stuck with bricked infotainment systems after listening to a particular radio station.

According to the Seattle Times, the problem began on January 30 and afflicted Mazdas from model years 2014 to 2017 when the cars were tuned to the local NPR station, KUOW 94.9. At some point during the day’s broadcast, a signal from KUOW caused the Mazdas’ infotainment systems to crash—the screens died and the radios were stuck on 94.9 FM.

This could be the beginning of one of the weaker X-Files episodes. A man is driving through Tacoma on a rainy night, listening to Fresh Air with Terry Gross, when suddenly his car is zapped and the only thing he can listen to is Fresh Air with Terry Gross.  As she drones on and on, asking her guest, “What was the inspiration for your research into white people’s use of the thumbs up emoji,” the driver frantically tries to change stations, but it keeps looping back to NPR. He grows increasingly distraught and begins bleeding from his ears. Finally, he loses control on a rain-slicked highway and crashes into a tree. The camera pans over his corpse as the radio intones, “This is NPR.”

Cue theme music….

This is but one of many reasons I’m not enthusiastic about the prospect of self-driving cars; or the Kill Switch Technology that will be embedded into future automobiles via the “Infrastructure” Bill that 32 Republicans voted for.

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  1. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    Several high end cars can already be bricked. 

    • #1
  2. Hoyacon Member
    Hoyacon
    @Hoyacon

    This is very funny. I like that.

    • #2
  3. Mark Camp Member
    Mark Camp
    @MarkCamp

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Several high end cars can already be bricked.

    Never heard of this.  Can you give some details?

    • #3
  4. EJHill Podcaster
    EJHill
    @EJHill

    Mark Camp: Never heard of this.  Can you give some details?

    I can’t do that, Dave.

     

    • #4
  5. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    This is the voice of World Control.

    You have nothing to fear.

    Nothing can go wrong.

    *click*

    Go wrong.

    *click*

    Go wrong.

    *click*

    • #5
  6. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    Why the repo man can remotely shut off your car engine:

    Call it the high-tech repo man: The starter interrupt device, a small piece of technology that can disable a car if a borrower is just one day late in making a payment.

    The rise in the devices, as detailed in The New York Times, comes amid a surge in auto loans given to subprime borrowers, or people with credit scores below 640. About one-third of all auto loans are now given to subprime borrowers, up from slightly more than one-quarter in 2010, according to Equifax.

    In an effort to protect their assets and minimize delinquencies, dealers and lenders are increasingly outfitting cars with starter interrupt devices and GPS trackers. Given the euphemistic name of “payment assurance devices,” the technology allows the repo man to shut down a car if a subprime borrower is even one day late in making a payment.

    And:

    End of the high-speed car chase? Engineers invent system that disables a vehicle’s engine remotely using radio beams

    • The RF Safe-Stop uses a blast of electromagnetic waves to stop engines
    • It can be triggered at a distance of up to 165ft and also works on boats
    • The waves is also used to disable a vehicle’s on-board electronic systems
    • Future plans could see the technology fitted onto helicopters
    • Police and governments could also use it as a ‘non-lethal weapon’ to stop joyriders and even car bombs

     

    • #6
  7. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Pretty much just a mini-EMP, not really new.

    • #7
  8. DaveSchmidt Coolidge
    DaveSchmidt
    @DaveSchmidt

    EJHill (View Comment):

    Mark Camp: Never heard of this. Can you give some details?

    I can’t do that, Dave.

    OUCH!

     

     

    • #8
  9. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Pretty much just a mini-EMP, not really new.

    Or an installed device, either one.

    • #9
  10. Barfly Member
    Barfly
    @Barfly

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Pretty much just a mini-EMP, not really new.

    No, but I’ve always dreamed of having one.

    • #10
  11. Barfly Member
    Barfly
    @Barfly

    It was always the antenna that stopped me. A dish large enough is too noticeable. You have to use a phased array of some kind if you want to hide it behind the grille. That’s too expensive to build, even a waveguide one like the SPS-48. Without an antenna, the energy requirement is too much.

    • #11
  12. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    I’ve always wanted a soundlazer, but they’re so big they mount on a pick-up bed.

    • #12
  13. Clifford A. Brown Member
    Clifford A. Brown
    @CliffordBrown

    Victor Tango Kilo: or the Kill Switch Technology that will be embedded into future automobiles via the “Infrastructure” Bill that 32 Republicans voted for.

    Name and end their careers:

    19 Senators:

    1. Roy Blunt of Missouri
    2. Richard Burr of North Carolina
    3. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana
    4. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia
    5. Susan Collins of Maine
    6. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota
    7. Mike Crapo of Idaho
    8. Deb Fischer of Nebraska
    9. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina
    10. Chuck Grassley of Iowa
    11. John Hoeven of North Dakota
    12. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky
    13. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska
    14. Rob Portman of Ohio
    15. Jim Risch of Idaho
    16. Mitt Romney of Utah
    17. Dan Sullivan of Alaska
    18. Thom Tillis of North Carolina
    19. Roger Wicker of Mississippi

    Establishment Republican Representatives whose votes gave Pelosi the win, after 6 Democrats voted NO:

    Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska

    Don Young of Alaska

    Adam Kinzinger of Illinois

    Fred Upton of Michigan

    Jeff Van Drew and Chris Smith of New Jersey

    Nicole Malliotakis, Andrew Garbarino, John Katko, and Tom Reed of New York

    Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio

    Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania

    David McKinley of West Virginia

     

    • #13
  14. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Barfly (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Pretty much just a mini-EMP, not really new.

    No, but I’ve always dreamed of having one.

    In the meantime, How about this?

     

    • #14
  15. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    Mark Camp (View Comment):

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Several high end cars can already be bricked.

    Never heard of this. Can you give some details?

    Tesla can tell a car not to work. 

    I have read of high end security systems locking down cars in parking garages and they cannot get them unlocked because no cell signal. 

    Any car that accesses the internet to update its control systems can be bricked. 

    • #15
  16. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Mark Camp (View Comment):

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Several high end cars can already be bricked.

    Never heard of this. Can you give some details?

    Tesla can tell a car not to work.

    I have read of high end security systems locking down cars in parking garages and they cannot get them unlocked because no cell signal.

    Any car that accesses the internet to update its control systems can be bricked.

    And a Tesla was hacked to be driven via remote control.

    • #16
  17. Victor Tango Kilo Member
    Victor Tango Kilo
    @VtheK

    Clifford A. Brown (View Comment):

    Victor Tango Kilo: or the Kill Switch Technology that will be embedded into future automobiles via the “Infrastructure” Bill that 32 Republicans voted for.

    Name and end their careers

    Establishment Republican Representatives whose votes gave Pelosi the win, after 6 Democrats voted NO:

    Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska

    Don Young of Alaska

    Adam Kinzinger of Illinois

    Fred Upton of Michigan

    Jeff Van Drew and Chris Smith of New Jersey

    Nicole Malliotakis, Andrew Garbarino, John Katko, and Tom Reed of New York

    Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio

    Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania

    David McKinley of West Virginia

     

    Kinzinger is gone. Gonzalez is gone. I think the NY gerrymander will eliminate all of those Republicans. New Jersey gerrymandered two Republican seats into oblivion, but I don’t know if they are the same. 

    • #17
  18. Hartmann von Aue Member
    Hartmann von Aue
    @HartmannvonAue

    Flicker (View Comment):

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Mark Camp (View Comment):

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Several high end cars can already be bricked.

    Never heard of this. Can you give some details?

    Tesla can tell a car not to work.

    I have read of high end security systems locking down cars in parking garages and they cannot get them unlocked because no cell signal.

    Any car that accesses the internet to update its control systems can be bricked.

    And a Tesla was hacked to be driven via remote control.

    Once again, yesterday’s dystopian SF nightmare is today’s lived reality. Enjoy. Not. 

    • #18
  19. Spin Inactive
    Spin
    @Spin

    Anyone here know the actual location in the infrastructure bill where this provision is?  

    • #19
  20. Hartmann von Aue Member
    Hartmann von Aue
    @HartmannvonAue

    Spin (View Comment):

    Anyone here know the actual location in the infrastructure bill where this provision is?

    Yes. 

    Text – S.1331 – 117th Congress (2021-2022): RIDE Act of 2021 | Congress.gov | Library of Congress

     

    • #20
  21. Spin Inactive
    Spin
    @Spin

    Hartmann von Aue (View Comment):

    Spin (View Comment):

    Anyone here know the actual location in the infrastructure bill where this provision is?

    Yes.

    Text – S.1331 – 117th Congress (2021-2022): RIDE Act of 2021 | Congress.gov | Library of Congress

     

     

    Thanks, I got it from Skip over on Facinbooks…

    • #21
  22. Spin Inactive
    Spin
    @Spin

    Hold the phone.  Barr’s article says this is “buried deep within the infrastructure bill”, but you’ve linked instead to a bill that has only been introduced…

    • #22
  23. Hoyacon Member
    Hoyacon
    @Hoyacon

    Spin (View Comment):

    Hold the phone. Barr’s article says this is “buried deep within the infrastructure bill”, but you’ve linked instead to a bill that has only been introduced…

    It’s Section 24220 of the infrastructure legislation.  I have no idea whether Barr has accurately described it.

    You are correct about the Ride Act not being passed.

    • #23
  24. Spin Inactive
    Spin
    @Spin

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

    Spin (View Comment):

    Hold the phone. Barr’s article says this is “buried deep within the infrastructure bill”, but you’ve linked instead to a bill that has only been introduced…

    It’s Section 24220 of the infrastructure legislation. I have no idea whether Barr has accurately described it.

    You are correct about the Ride Act not being passed.

    Yes, I found it.  Thanks!  

    Pure nonsense…

    • #24
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