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posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday February 12 2020, @11:57PM   Printer-friendly
from the fine-print-giveth-and-small-print-taketh-away dept.

People Are Jailbreaking Used Teslas to Get the Features They Expect:

People have certain expectations when they buy a car. For example, they expect it to work for years afterwards needing only basic maintenance. They also expect that the purchase price includes ownership of not only the physical car itself but all the software that runs it.

Tesla doesn't agree.

Last week, Jalopnik ran an article about a person who bought a used Tesla from a dealer—who in turn bought it at auction directly from Tesla under California's lemon law buyback program—advertised as having Autopilot, the company's Advanced Driver Assistance System. The entire Autopilot package, which the car had when the dealer bought it, costs an extra $8,000. Then, Tesla remotely removed the software because "Full-Self Driving was not a feature that you had paid for." Tesla said if the customer wanted Autopilot back, he'd have to fork over the $8,000.

Tesla clawing back software upgrades from used cars is not a new practice for the company. "Tesla as a policy has been doing this for years on salvage cars," said Phil Sadow, an independent Tesla repair professional. One former employee, who used to work in an official Tesla service center and asked to remain anonymous because he still works with Tesla in another capacity, said he was told to put the software features back if people complained to avoid bad publicity. He left about a year ago.

But that doesn't mean Tesla owners are helpless. Sadow and others have ways to push back against Tesla by jailbreaking the cars and getting the features owners feel are rightfully theirs.

"As far as I am concerned removing a paid-for feature, regardless of the state of the car, is theft," Sadow said. "It's as if a bunch of guys show up in a van and take your upgraded 20" wheels. Just because it's software, it's no different."


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  • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday February 14 2020, @12:45AM (8 children)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Friday February 14 2020, @12:45AM (#957953) Journal

    But I still want a way of making sure that cruise control is off and drive to the wheels is disabled - if I could afford an electric car I'd be willing to pay extra for a clutch somewhere between the motor and wheels.

    This will absolutely kill your mileage and likely fry your motor - you see, those motor coils simply hate sudden changes in the load or current; you've been played against long ago by that Russian with a German name - Emil Lenz [wikipedia.org], 'twas him - he legislated nasty effects will happen whenever you break a circuit with a big, powerful coil in which nice heavy currents happily flow.

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
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  • (Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Friday February 14 2020, @03:28AM (7 children)

    by fido_dogstoyevsky (131) <axehandleNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Friday February 14 2020, @03:28AM (#958048)

    This [clutch in driveline] will absolutely kill your mileage and likely fry your motor...

    Yes, but both are preferable to running off the road at whatever the car's maximum speed is because cruise control is stuck on. I did call it a safety device, not something to misuse on a daily basis.

    ... Emil Lenz [wikipedia.org]...

    Changing the subject just a little, the manufacturer of the DCC* system I use on my model railway is ...Lenz [lenz-elektronik.de]. No relation as far as I can see.
     
    *DCC uses PWM for speed control for the same reason electric cars use it (just to get back on subject :)).

    --
    It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
    • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday February 14 2020, @04:01AM (6 children)

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Friday February 14 2020, @04:01AM (#958059) Journal

      I did call it a safety device, not something to misuse on a daily basis.

      I reckon there are better solutions than to mechanically decouple the drive train.
      Like an mechanically switch which cuts the main power and some (large current rated) flyback freewheeling diodes on the motor coils which will get you an inductive breaking - the max current in the coils at the value when you cut the power. You'll still need to deal with the heating in the coil - 500kg*(25m/s)2/2 = 156250J - meh, not that bad.

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
      • (Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Friday February 14 2020, @05:00AM (5 children)

        by fido_dogstoyevsky (131) <axehandleNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Friday February 14 2020, @05:00AM (#958073)

        ...Like an mechanically switch which cuts the main power and some (large current rated) flyback freewheeling diodes on the motor coils which will get you an inductive breaking...

        A good option, although I would also like to have independant brake control (I want both, call me entitled if you like; but I also recognise that no manufacturer will offer both).

        --
        It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
        • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday February 14 2020, @05:12AM (4 children)

          by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Friday February 14 2020, @05:12AM (#958076) Journal

          although I would also like to have independant brake control

          I assumed there must be a simple, friction based, mechanical brake.
          Regenerative/inductive braking will be limited on the braking force and one must assume there will be cases in which, damn'd be energy efficiency, one must stop asap.

          --
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
          • (Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Friday February 14 2020, @06:11AM (3 children)

            by fido_dogstoyevsky (131) <axehandleNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Friday February 14 2020, @06:11AM (#958089)

            I assumed there must be a simple, friction based, mechanical brake...

            In a world where the Nissan Infiniti doesn't have a mechanical connection between steering wheel and front wheels I'm not confident that's a safe assumption for much longer.

            Regenerative/inductive braking will be limited on the braking force and one must assume there will be cases in which, damn'd be energy efficiency, one must stop asap.

            Dynamic braking (as used on trains) is most efficient at high speeds, It gets less so at 20-30km/h. I still want my multicircuit friction brakes - they're still usable even if the assistance goes on holiday.

            --
            It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
            • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday February 14 2020, @07:31AM (2 children)

              by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Friday February 14 2020, @07:31AM (#958110) Journal

              In a world where the Nissan Infiniti doesn't have a mechanical connection between steering wheel and front wheels I'm not confident that's a safe assumption for much longer.
              ...
              I still want my multicircuit friction brakes - they're still usable even if the assistance goes on holiday.

              But of course! Here's how when everything else fails [youtube.com]

              (note how this is not a problem that's specific to EV?)

              --
              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
              • (Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Friday February 14 2020, @08:13AM (1 child)

                by fido_dogstoyevsky (131) <axehandleNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Friday February 14 2020, @08:13AM (#958121)

                But of course! Here's how when everything else fails [youtube.com]

                ... Wow!

                (note how this is not a problem that's specific to EV?)

                My post wasn't clear enough - all of my initial specific criticisms were of misfeatures found in infernal combustion engined cars (and 3/4 are in mine).

                --
                It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
                • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday February 14 2020, @08:19AM

                  by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Friday February 14 2020, @08:19AM (#958123) Journal

                  No, apologies, your post was clear. My mind wasn't - with my only excuse being the late evening of a thanks-god-is-friday.
                  A good thing I can give a miss to anything Valentine related.

                  --
                  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford