The IT Nerd

One topic that I keep coming back to is the fact that the security of cars is something that seems to be lacking. I highlighted this last week and today I found a new reason to bring this topic up again. There’s an aftermarket device called the Lemur Vehicle Monitors BlueDriver that that connects to a vehicle’s OBD-II port and provides information about the vehicle’s performance. You pair said device to your smart phone via Bluetooth and you can get all sorts of interesting data. That’s cool, except for the fact that anyone can access the device over Bluetooth as it doesn’t require any sort of authentication such as a PIN code. That means that anyone can have access to whatever your car might be doing and in theory attack the car and take control of it. There is a CERT Vulnerability Note that gives the details as well as their recommendation which is not to use the device. I cannot find a response from the company as to what they plan to do about this. That does not inspire confidence.

This is yet another example of why automotive security needs to be taken seriously as sooner or later, we will go from seeing theoretical risks to real ones. By then it may be too late to do anything about them.

I’ve been saying for a while now that car companies have to get serious about security in cars in the light of some high profile hacks in the last year that show that cars are very vulnerable to being pwned by hackers. I’ve even proposed a “Patch Tuesday” type of scheme to make sure that security fixes and improvements get into the hands of drivers. Here’s another example of why this is required:

ADAC, the German Automobile Club, is sort of the AAA of Germany. Recently, the group revealed the findings of some auto security tests they’d run to bring attention to how easy it is for thieves to exploit keyless entry systems and steal cars, despite the fact that the vulnerability has been known for years.

The technique involves cars equipped with keyless entry transmitter keys. Normally the key, which uses a radio signal, must be just a few feet away from the vehicle. The ADAC researchers figured out that with some inexpensive equipment, they could pick up the radio signal from a nearby keyless entry fob and extend it several hundred feet. The equipment cost ADAC roughly $225.

Once inside, the researchers (or thieves) would be able to start and drive the car away, as most automakers allow the engine to keep running and the car to drive even after the keyless entry fob goes out of range. ADAC used the technique on several cars in Europe, including Audis, BMWs, GM products, Fords, Kias, and Toyotas.

I’ll add Hyundai to the list as my 2016 Tucson will stay running if the key fob is removed from the car and you can drive away with it. That seems to me to be a #fail as I cannot think of a use case where this should be the desired behavior. I would be very interested to see what, if anything car companies do to address this issue as clearly this is something that needs to be addressed and soon.

Another question that I received over the last few days relates to the fact that Toyota has an oil burning issue with their 2.4 liter engines and how I feel that I’ve been treated by them since it’s not bad enough for them to fix it in my car:

Hello IT Nerd. I read your blog daily and I have to admit I am dismayed by how Toyota Canada has treated you in regards to your oil consumption issue with your car. You’re right of course when you say that engines should only consume little if any oil. But my question is this. What could Toyota Canada do to keep you as a customer? Why don’t you escalate to Toyota Canada again to see if you can come to some sort of agreement to get your car fixed? 

Thanks for publishing your blog! I truly enjoy reading what you have to write about!

Thanks for reading my blog and for the questions.

To be honest, I am not sure if Toyota Canada could do anything to keep me in one of their vehicles at this point. But let me explain why. The fact that the car consumes oil which they recognize is a problem, but is something they don’t feel the need to address because its not bad enough by their standards really bothers me. Why? I come from a universe where if you make something, you stand behind it no matter how minor the issue is because all you have at the end of the day is your reputation. Now one could argue that Toyota Canada is doing that by extending the warranty to 10 years from he date of first use or 240,000 km is standing behind their product. But I would disagree. That extension of the warranty does nothing to address the core issue which is the engine consumes oil and it shouldn’t. Now if they addressed this issue with us, perhaps our minds may change. But even if they did, we’d still have a bad taste in our mouths. Thus the reason why I am not sure what Toyota Canada could do to keep us as a customer. But they are free to try and change our minds.

In answer to your second question, we’re not going to escalate to Toyota Canada again because my wife and I feel that there is just no point in doing so. Thus we are instead going to replace the Matrix with another brand of car that we can rely on. Escalating issues shouldn’t be the rule to get a problem addressed, it should be the exception. And the fact this would be our second go round if we were to go that route just rubs us the wrong way. This is highlighted by the fact that when I got the results of the oil consumption test, the message that was sent to me was that the only way that my oil consumption issue is going to get fixed is if it burns way more oil than it is currently burning. Thus there’s no point going to Toyota Canada as my dealer is simply parroting the party line so to speak and we feel that Toyota Canada is not likely say or do anything different. Now Toyota Canada is free to surprise us on this front, but we don’t have enough confidence in them to believe that they’re going to step up and do what’s right and that’s really unfortunate.

There seems to be a resurgence of people asking me questions. Thus I will spend some time over the next few days answering them one at a time. Starting with this one relating to the need for my wife and I to buy a new car to replace our unreliable Toyota Matrix:

IT Nerd, since you and your wife are now looking for a car, what are key must have features that you have to have in a car and why? 

Thanks!

Thanks for the question. Here’s a list of what my wife and I are looking for. Starting with the must haves:

• Backup Camera With Rear Sensors: As far as my wife is concerned, this is a must. Her logic is that it isn’t enough to have a backup camera if there’s nothing that warns you about how far away you are from an object. As proof of this, she cites a co-worker of hers who mis-judged the distance between his 4 day old Toyota Venza and a tree. I can’t say that I disagree, therefore it is on the list.
• Cross Traffic Alerts: If you’ve backed out of a space at Home Depot and had difficulty seeing around you because of SUV’s and minivans blocking your view, you’ll know why this is a must. This ensures that you don’t t-bone another car when backing out of a space. Thus as far as we are concerned, this is a must have.
• Blind Spot Monitoring: Despite the fact that I have argued for years that properly adjusted mirrors eliminate the need for a gizmo to monitor your blind spots, there are occasions where something jumps into my blind spot at the last possible second before a lane change. Thus this feature made the list.
• An Infotainment System That Is “Off The Grid”: Given the news about GM and Chrysler having had their cars hacked from a distance, it might be better that in the era of the “Internet Of Things” that our next car is not one of those “things” on the Internet. Call us paranoid, or perhaps ahead of the curve on this one.

Next up are the nice to haves, but we can live without them if they were not there:

• Autonomous Cruise Control: What this means is that I set the cruise control system to the speed I want to travel and how much distance I want between myself and the car in front of me. That way if the car in front of me slows down, I slow down. If it speeds up, I speed up. I’ve used these systems in cars I’ve reviewed and they’ve proven handy on long drives.
• Lane Keeping Assistance: Something that lets me know that I am drifting out of my lane on long drives would be handy to have. Bonus points if if has the ability to alert me if it thinks I am falling asleep.
• Autonomous Braking: I’ve experienced systems like these from Volvo and Mazda first hand in controlled situations and I do believe that they can save lives because of their ability to stop the car (or at least slow it down) if you are not able to react to a situation in time.

Now, features like the above do drive up the price of a car. But if we’re going to replace our car, we feel that we want to get a car that has the features to make the driving experience safer and more enjoyable.

As a pre-emptive measure due to the oil consumption issue that my wife and I have with our Toyota Matrix, We decided to start looking at replacing it with a more reliable vehicle. One thing that we did not want to do is swap it for a vehicle that has the same issue. So it was handy that Consumers Reports validated what I’ve always said. Cars consuming oil between oil changes to the degree that I have seen is not normal. Plus they have a list of the top 30 cars that consume oil and note that many car makers including Toyota are facing class action lawsuits over this.

So, where does that leave us? We are in the unique position being able to review cars for this blog. Thus it gave us a short list to work from. Added to that are some models that we think would meet our needs as well but we haven’t seen. The criteria to make the list are that the vehicles have to have all-wheel-drive and be around $40K Canadian before we start to haggle. Also, if the model that we were considering was on Consumers Reports list for consuming too much oil, it wouldn’t make our list. That took a lot of contenders out including vehicles from Volvo, Subaru, Audi, and BMW. Of interest, while Toyota is mentioned in the article, they don’t show up on the list.

The contenders are:

Mazda CX-3: My wife and I like the size of the vehicle and it’s great on gas while having all-wheel-drive. Plus it has the best infotainment system out there and is easy to drive and park.

Mazda CX-5: This is another contender because of how well it drives. Plus it’s bigger than what we drive currently. That can come in handy.

Jeep Cherokee: I gave the Cherokee the award for best SUV last year. My wife and I were really impressed by its off road capabilities and the technology that came with it. The Limited trim level that we tested is at the upper reaches of what we want to spend. But it is a strong contender.

2016 Hyundai Tucson: This is a brand new model that has not hit dealerships as of yet. But on paper it looks very interesting and has made our list for now.

Lexus NX 200t: Now even though my wife and I are not fans of Toyota at the moment, we did like what we saw of the Lexus NX 200t when we saw it at the Canadian International Auto Show this year. So for now it is on the list.

Our next task is to look at each vehicle and check out how reliable they are. Depending on the results, some of them may get dropped from the list. We’ll also be looking at other makes and models to see if they should be added to our list. Once that process is complete, it will be time for test drives.

In the meantime, we are half way through driving the 2000 kilometers that Toyota wants us to drive as part of the oil consumption test. If it fails the test, we’ll then have to wait for parts to be available to fix the vehicle. Even then, we are strongly leaning towards replacing it. But if it is “normal” according to Toyota, then it will get replaced for sure.

Stay tuned for more on both fronts.

Now that I’ve started to do car reviews, I’ve started to get more of these sorts of questions. Thanks for sending them to me.

In any case, the answer goes something like this. When a car company lists city and highway mileage on the window sticker, those numbers are derived from tests that are done in very ideal conditions. Conditions that you’ll never be able to fully replicate in real life. For example, my Toyota Matrix AWD is rated for 10.2 litres of fuel per 100 km in the city, and 7.6 litres per 100 km on the highway. On the highway I’ve never gotten anything less than 9.5 litres of fuel per 100 km. In terms of city driving, I have never gotten better than 11 litres per 100 km. This is with me driving the way most people drive. That is, without regard for fuel economy. But in the interest of science, I tried a little experiment. If I drive at 90 KM/h (55 MPH) on the highway (which is something that I do not recommend in the Greater Toronto Area at any time other than a very late night or some other time where there is little or no traffic), I can improve my my highway numbers to 8.9 litres of fuel per 100 km. Still nowhere close to the 7.6 litres per 100 km that Toyota lists, but it is an improvement. I will note that that Canadian highways often have speed limits of 100 KM/h. That makes doing this on a daily basis not a realistic option. But it does show that what I said earlier has validity. Plus it also shows if you dive with fuel economy in mind, you can save some gas and some cash too.