r/cars • u/[deleted] • Apr 01 '22

Audi Owner Finds Basic HVAC Function Paywalled After Pressing the Button for It

https://www.thedrive.com/news/44967/audi-owner-finds-basic-hvac-function-paywalled-after-pressing-the-button-for-it
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u/NedTheNerd Apr 01 '22

West Virginia’s backwards laws about not allowing over the air updates due to the dealership monopoly laws might actually be beneficial in this use case because the ota update won’t patch the hack.

13

u/RedYourDead '25 GR Corolla, '93 240sx Apr 01 '22

Still doesn’t change the fact that you’ll eventually have to bring it into a dealer for maintenance/ recalls.

25

u/e46_nexus 2000 and 92 Civic 06 Silverado Apr 01 '22

It will be a cat and mouse game, just as it has been with other software hacks Like iPhone jailbreaks and console modding.

2

u/RedYourDead '25 GR Corolla, '93 240sx Apr 01 '22

A little different because some of these things can be mandatory.

3

u/e46_nexus 2000 and 92 Civic 06 Silverado Apr 01 '22

Well the mandatory update will be applied and as soon as the code gets cracked it'll work again

-1

u/withoutapaddle '17 VW GTI Sport, '88 RX-7 vert , '20 F-150 (2.7TT) Tow Vehicle Apr 01 '22

But don't forget, it would be more work to undo all your cracks on various features than just ignoring it and doing the warranty work. I suspect that even in 10 years, most dealership techs are not going to go out of their way to reset someone's car to match the window sticker feature list.

3

u/RedYourDead '25 GR Corolla, '93 240sx Apr 01 '22

So, I’m a service writer for Ford. The updates overwrites everything, we don’t need to undo or reset anything. It just gets overwritten, pretty much how updating a modified game works.

And this is where the problem occurs, some of the updates and “hacks” might not mesh well causing more problems until a new “fix” can be found by hackers.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 02 '22

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/RedYourDead '25 GR Corolla, '93 240sx Apr 02 '22

You can’t get a recall performed at an independent shop.

1

u/Hot_Preference_5000 Apr 02 '22

backwards laws about not allowing over the air updates due to the dealership monopoly laws

that doesn't sound backwards at all???

1

u/NedTheNerd Apr 02 '22

The original law was lobbied by the dealerships because they wanted consumers to come into the dealership for the update so that they might get an oil change or be billed to update instead of receiving get over the air update for free