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this post was submitted on 23 Feb 2026
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Fuck Cars
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Thats a good point. I really hope you’re right. Seems impossible to buy a new car these days if you’re at all privacy conscious
1: Buy whatever car you want.
2: Find the antenna it uses to communicate.
3: Cut or unplug that antenna wire.
4: Attempt to use some online feature of the car and confirm that it worked when you see 'Failed: no signal'.
If you're not technically savvy enough to do that yourself, I'm sure you can find 3rd party mechanics who are willing to do it for a reasonable price.
The car will then forever function in 'outside of signal range' mode without being able to connect to the internet or any other network. Some features might be unavailable in this mode, but all the important features of the car should still work. (Because manufacturers build cars to still work even when inside a tunnel or outside of cell signal range.)
It really is that simple. If your car can't communicate with the outside world, it can't violate your privacy (and it can't be remotely controlled, either).
(Okay, so there are still some privacy concerns. Mainly about data logging and retaining data you'd rather not retain. But bad actors will need physical access to your car to get at that data. Only a concern if your car gets physically searched/seized.)
See, this is a cute IDEA I see around lemmy a lot, but a number of cars will see issues related to this. For example, subaru has some vehicles that will kill their own batteries trying to connect, and failing, to services that no longer exist, even while parked. Cutting your connection will prompt the same issue. Is that terrible design? Yes. But it's also the design used for cars made to spy on you and stop working when they can't spy on you, that don't mind forcing you to buy a new car if you disable their spying capabilities.
They are starting to link the signal systems into other parts of the car, so things like if you remove the eSIM, your windows stop working, etc
Don't remove the eSIM, just cut/unplug the antenna.
The car has to function in tunnels and when you drive outside cell service range. Disconnecting the antenna (and putting a dummy load on it if necessary) will make it think it's just out of signal range, so it shouldn't refuse to work.
Interesting advice. Thanks!
I hope I'm right, too. We need at least some positives to come out the AI shitshow.