Risk of factory navigation systems?

[DavidEBSmith]

Here's an item from The Risks Digest on a potential issue with on-board nav systems. Sounds like the kind of thing BMW would come up with. No more track days for you!

 

Apparently the Nissan Corp. has ruined the fun of aftermarket tuners on the latest GT-R high performance street sportscar in Japan. The ECU is set on a hair trigger and balks at many aftermarket performance upgrades as well as non-factory installed tires and wheels through the run-flat detectors.

 

But more ominously, the onboard navigation system watches your speed via GPS and recognizes popular racetrack locations. You must scroll through a series of menus and agree to disable the 180kph (111mph) speed limiter. Then after thrashing it on the track, you must take it for a $1000 Nissan High Performance Center safety check or the warranty is void.

 

Big Brother is your co-pilot.

[Mike]

Nissan apparently thinks that the Japanese are willing to accept this, but it looks like the cybernanny will be disabled in the USA. Also, according to the Wikipedia article, some aftermarket tuners have figured out how to crack the ECU's code, perhaps with help from Nissan.

 

However, this does signal a couple of likely trends for vehicles sold in the U.S. It's increasingly likely that manufacturers will keep track of your use of the vehicle, either in real time or after the fact, to determine warranty coverage. Also, it's becoming increasingly difficult to "tune" new vehicles with aftermarket parts and modifications. I can see a day when the only modifications that will be permitted will be those that have undergone government testing and approval, as is now the case with Germany's TÜV.

[Mike O]

IIRC, BMW M3's with early launch feature did this years ago. I believe what's unique here, is that consumers/drivers have this visible to them whereas earlier implementations merely stored this information in non-volatile storage on the cars' computer.

 

Big Brother has been watching for some time.

 

Mike O

[steveknapp]

This impacts those who want to tweak, then file for warranty. Which IMHO is questionable. Not just performance cars, diesel trucks face some similar issues.

 

The mods are easy, but putting things back to stock without leaving any electronic traces is MUCH harder. Usage goes the same way, overrev the motor, for example, and should you get a new one under warranty?

 

If you want to play, be willing to pay.

 

Can I interest you in a total replacement ECU?

 

http://www.proefi.com/index_files/Page891.htm