Automakers are increasingly obsessed with turning everything into a subscription service in a bid to boost quarterly returns. We’ve noted how BMW has embraced making heated seats and other fea…
They will encrypt the heaters’ connection to the car. Breaking encryption is a dcma violation. Aftermarket can replace the entire seat but that’s very expensive.
And I bet I could wire the heated seats to work without even needing to take a Tesla to car toys. Heated seat circuits aren’t that complicated. It’s a heating element mat, maybe a motor and fan if you have cooled seats as well. You don’t need software. You need a toggle switch and a thermistor.
Also reverse engineering for the purpose of interoperability is protected by the DMCA.
Modchips are an incredibly niche product and therefore much easier to target and shutdown, millions and millions of people will seek out how to break the law to get free heated seats if subscription services become widespread
Modchips went under the radar for years. It wasn’t until they became popular (modchips company making millions in profit) that the developers were sued.
Like car mods right now, as long as it’s a few, it isn’t worth the hassle because there is no money to take from them. If it becomes big and Cartoys starts selling lots of mod chips that break encryption, they will be sued and possibly jailed.
Yes you can run your own wire and glue a switch to the console. But it won’t work in the car’s ui. And I bet everything over 5v for USB is off a computer controlled relay. So you’d have to patch into the high voltage battery and do your own dc to dc conversion.
They will encrypt the heaters’ connection to the car. Breaking encryption is a dcma violation. Aftermarket can replace the entire seat but that’s very expensive.
Tesla already does this.
https://insideevs.com/news/680181/hackers-jailbreak-tesla-model-3-unlock-free-heated-rear-seats/
If anyone sells what the researchers figured out, they can be sued and jailed just like modchip developers have been.
And I bet I could wire the heated seats to work without even needing to take a Tesla to car toys. Heated seat circuits aren’t that complicated. It’s a heating element mat, maybe a motor and fan if you have cooled seats as well. You don’t need software. You need a toggle switch and a thermistor.
Also reverse engineering for the purpose of interoperability is protected by the DMCA.
You could bypass and put your own hardwired switch in. But it wouldn’t be integrated into the car’s gui.
“to the extent any such acts of identification and analysis do not constitute infringement under this title.”
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/1201#
Modchips makers were sued and jailed. Interoperability didn’t apply because they violated the “no commercial use” part of the title.
Modchips are an incredibly niche product and therefore much easier to target and shutdown, millions and millions of people will seek out how to break the law to get free heated seats if subscription services become widespread
Modchips went under the radar for years. It wasn’t until they became popular (modchips company making millions in profit) that the developers were sued.
Like car mods right now, as long as it’s a few, it isn’t worth the hassle because there is no money to take from them. If it becomes big and Cartoys starts selling lots of mod chips that break encryption, they will be sued and possibly jailed.
Heated seats use a heating element which just needs power and ground. They can’t encrypt that.
Yes you can run your own wire and glue a switch to the console. But it won’t work in the car’s ui. And I bet everything over 5v for USB is off a computer controlled relay. So you’d have to patch into the high voltage battery and do your own dc to dc conversion.