A non-paywalled article that's probably the same
this post was submitted on 22 Jul 2026
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Anyone in Bluetooth Range Can Unlock Cars, Kill Engines Through Alarms Owners May Never Have Paid For
A dealer-installed alarm in two million cars is vulnerable to hackers. Worse yet, owners may not even know their car has one.
And the indicator if your car is likely vulnerable:
'...such vehicles have stickers that read “Karr” or “SWDS” on their driver-side windows'
And the indicator if your car is likely infected:
'...such vehicles have stickers that read “Karr” or “SWDS” on their driver-side windows'
Car owners in Southern California are most likely to have the device installed due to its popularity among car dealers in the region, but the UCSD researchers warn that they've found the devices installed in vehicles across the US and even in other countries.
The part I was most interested in. I thought California was supposed to have slightly better privacy laws, but I guess it really doesn't mean much.
This is about dealerships pre-installing an alarm system and trying to upsell people at paperwork signing. If they turn down the option, the dealers just don't activate the alarm system. Some dealers are shadier about it than others. I went into final docs signing without ever being told about the $600 option and only barely noticed it before I signed. I was like, "uhhh, what's this?" Luckily I was aware of other bullshit upcharges dealers tack on like underbody coatings and stuff, so I made sure to go line by line on the price. $600 for an alarm that could be bought for $200, plus I think it also had a recurring yearly fee for it.
So all of those people were informed that their vehicle did have this privacy and security invasion. There was just no way to have it uninstalled.
When I get an oil change now I also get "three free months" of Sirrius Satellite radio... racket and a half subscription seeking scum.
Time to find a different place to get your oil changed.
It's the shop management software. The shop owner is a friend, he tells me he could disable that feature for me, but he gets paid a little bit every time the free offer is sent out. I think it's just funny. Maybe one of these days we'll turn it on before going on a long road trip just to have satellite radio to play with on the highway, but around normal life I have zero use for subscription radio.
im guessing no one is the wiser if nobody notices or cares about it, or complains about it.
Panic behind a paywall
- Load article.
- Enable Reader Mode.
- Reload page.
No more paywall.
Thanks, but the point was the clickbait headline hidden behind the paywall. The actual story was garbage.
Fair enough.
What is preload page? EDIT: I can't read, sorry.
No 3rd-party; no paywall.
Unless there’s a recall, which I’m not sure there could be for an aftermarket device, they will remain mostly unpatched. Unless this becomes the next Kia boys thing and insurance companies look to mitigate their losses.
I purchased a used car from an individual, it had some hacky alarm system spliced in under the dash which malfunctioned quite comically at the grocery store (if it weren't for the fear of being stranded with a car full of frozen foods) after we had owned the car about a month. That one was such a mess, I managed to identify its components and clip it out, leaving the factory harness undisturbed - would have been a bit more challenging if the system had actually cut some wires that later needed to be re-spliced.