I have a 2018 Chevy. I get emails from the dealership that tells me when a light goes off on my dashboard. OnStar will give me monthly reports about my driving tendencies (average speed, aggressive acceleration, etc.).
So now that I know big brother has access to my car, am I able to disconnect it from the grid?
We have two Silverados an we disconnected the OnStar antennas and the power supplied to the module. Pretty simple procedure. Here's an example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UN2YR1KSBJ4
Don't know about disconnecting. The early OnStars were modules that could be unplugged and didn't work without a subscription service. Later models may be fully integrated. Perhaps if you could isolate the module and wrap it in foil to create a faraday cage that would prevent radio signals from reaching it?
IMHO, they'd only be able to pull off a mass kill once. There are still plenty of older vehicles on the road that wouldn't respond, especially outside the urban areas. Swaths of vehicles coming to a halt and stranding everyone would likely be a major event and cause mass inconvenience and a bit of panic
You would also need to take the GPS antenna out of the loop to the device. Will likely create a maintenance error code as it serves as a geo tracking device full time potentially when power is off as well ( whether currently being done or not).
Glad i own 2 pre computer bullshit vehicles. If full on apocolypse,i can swap them both to points ignition and generator if needed. Gas would be the bigger issue
There's always wood gas.
But the bigger problem, IMHO, is being the only person around with a functioning vehicle. The scene at the ferry from "War of the Worlds" with Tom Cruise comes to mind.
That said, I have a copy of the Wood Gas Bible so in a pinch I can keep the tractor running...
8m sure with a little tuning,they would run on alcohol. Im sure i can figure out hiw to make some moonshine.
2020 jeep here. Only works if key fob is in it, right? Nope! Glitch in the matrix let me drive it all around town the other day with no keys at all. Oops! So what else can it do by itself?
Might be worth installing a battery cut-out switch in cars like this.
We need to invent a Faraday wrap for vehicles
see my comment below to u/Bigtortoise
The antenna cover is effectively a Faraday wrap
Tesla uses this technology on all of their cars, as do ALL of the major car makers. If you disconnect it, the car is disabled, it's been this way for years. kill-switches are already out there.
If cars get disabled, I figure it most likely would be from an emp, but I haven’t considered this alternative much since the Canadian Truckers convoy.
They can most likely control everything in your car remotely. I think your only recourse is to find where the wireless receiver is and try to block/shield it somehow.
see my comment above to u/Bigtortoise
The antenna cover is effectively a Faraday wrap, and it prevents outside signal from being used to communicate or control your vehicle. You may have to look at vehicle specs if you suspect there is more than one antenna.
With enough research into wiring harness diagrams and a little mechanical/electrical aptitude you should absolutely be able to bypass the onstar system controls, you could even probably isolate it to where it can’t send a signal to your control modules but it still sends a signal back to onstar so they wouldn’t be able to deactivate anything, but sometimes theories don’t always work out and when you see the wiring diagram there may be some curveballs the engineers threw in just to complicate things
Best approach is to put RF blocking tape painted with RF blocking paint over the GPS antenna. Then paint it again with car-color matching paint. You can also get GPS blocking devices that you can plug in to the car.
In extreme cases you can fashion a custom wooden antenna cover (carve it with chisels) and then line the inside of the cover with fine screen metal mesh (blocks EMF and RF) and aluminum foil (blocks RF). Then paint the outside facing surface with RF blocking paint, and then with color-matching car paint. Put tape around existing antenna, and then glue the wooden antenna cover to the tape.
Note that there appear to be laws on the books that make it illegal to disconnect car GPS systems, so suppressing or blocking the signal appears to be the "most legal" way to do it. But since the Deep State may try to kill us using remote control software takeover of the vehicle, I would say ignore the law since we are likely at war, and claim Law of War and UCMJ is in effect, and you are civilian taking measures to protect yourself from the occupying power and to NOT become a combatant or collateral damage (per your rights under Law of War).
I just bought a 2023 Silverado 1500 that doesn't have onstar. Of course its the cheapest, most basic trim package but still.
Get rid of OnStar.
I just spent 2 weeks in a 2023 Camry rental. Crazy new features I wasn't familiar with:
-steering assist, follows the road (lines?), and steers to keep you on the road, beeps if you cross the median without signaling. ...sometimes veered in one direction when the white line on the road curved away at an exit ramp.
-bright lights automatically turn off if there's a visible car in front of you on either side of the road.
-Cruise control would slow down if there was a slower car in front of you. You can choose the distance.
that would get hacked very quickly and bootleg apps would become widely available for nefarious purposes. it could, potentially, be a method to kill people at random, anonymously.
Another reason why they want to control the internet.
Theoretically a killswitch could be built into the keyfob/TPMS receiver.
3G sunset was July. 2G sunset was said to be December, but 2G is still going. A 2018 probably has a 4G modem so that will probably never go away. Communication systems these days are nearly perfect, very close the Shannon limit, the theoretical amount of information a communications channel can send through specified conditions. The new advances are just increasing the signal width, number on antennas on devices, and new frequency bands. Hello, millimeter wave 5G.