Ask HN: Where to begin in removing "safety" features from new cars?

2 pointsposted 13 hours ago
by sky2224

Item id: 48261313

6 Comments

Bender

13 hours ago

Just me personally, I would start with older trucks and take it to a mod shop to get it tuned up, tricked out and not add any of the undesirable features. Not cheap but I would get the end result I wanted and the opportunity to customize anything including anti-theft toggle combo switches and make all the steering column wiring the same color. As a bonus, if it is kept looking old and beat up it is less desirable to thieves.

ungreased0675

10 hours ago

You are looking for a DCM bypass.

As for the rest, I’m not sure why you want to disable things like automatic emergency braking or lane centering assistance. What exactly is the downside with those features?

sky2224

6 hours ago

Cause driving is fun and these systems get in the way without providing any noticeable benefit to me.

I tried lane keep assist in an audi a5 sportback, and it was genuinely terrifying to me. It felt like it was trying to drag me into oncoming traffic when going around curves.

Automatic braking sounds great on paper but practically speaking doesn't work out in my opinion, and once again seems to get in the way. Many people have reported getting frequent alerts while driving or even having ghost braking going on with their Subaru EyeSight systems. This wouldn't be an issue if I could confidently remove the system from my vehicle, but right now I practically can't without doing some heavy lifting on my own.

dlcarrier

12 hours ago

You can eliminate most downsides by disconnecting the cellular modem. You might even be able to pull out a SIM card and be done with it.

sky2224

11 hours ago

That definitely addresses the privacy issue, but some of the automatic braking and driver awareness monitoring is a bit much for me. For example, Subaru now puts a camera in the dash that frequently scans your face and makes a beeping noise if it thinks you're not paying attention. As you can imagine, it beeps a lot.

stop50

13 hours ago

Try the can bus. It is often used for tge communication between components and for last resort access.