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> the rising deployment of remote engine cutoffs and GPS locators in cars How is this legal? Cutting off the engine at a bad time could cause horrific accident

> the rising deployment of remote engine cutoffs and GPS locators in cars How is this legal? Cutting off the engine at a bad time could cause horrific accidents, putting the car owner and occupants of surrounding cars in lethal harm. Where is the class action law suit for this?

ceejayoz 8y ago
I'd expect they prevent starting the car, rather than shutting off in the middle of the highway. http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2014/09/car_lenders_use_remote_kill_switch_to_disable_cars_when_borrowers_miss_payments.html http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2014/09/car_lenders_u... > "We can disable the ignition but not while you're driving," Melanie Boudreau, a spokesperson at IMETRIK, a Canadian maker of starter interrupt devices that run around $100 each, told Fortune. "We don't want to kill you."
- Bluestrike2 8y ago
  That's slightly better I guess (though at driver in the article claimed otherwise), but the driver is still under the expectation that their vehicle will start when they turn the key. What happens when the car won't turn on in an emergency?
  - jpatokal 8y ago
    Is that any different from the car not being there because it's been repossessed?
    - X-Istence 8y ago
      You stall in the middle of the highway and need to get it going again?
    - im3w1l 8y ago
      It may obstruct something by remaining standing when the driver wanted to just make a quick stop.
    - bouke 8y ago
      Or you shut it off at a train crossing by accident, a trains is oncoming and you cannot get the car started again? With all your children in the back seats and no time to get them all out?
rpcope1 8y ago
These sort of devices seem to show up a lot on cars from "Buy Here, Pay Here" lots (for buyers at risk of default), and have been for a while now. This is one the ways those sorts of lots make a lot of money; an couple of acquaintances run some of these lots and I'm told some cars may be repossessed many times, often paying themselves off many times over. This is another mode of fleecing the poor like payday loan vendors, and it's real lucrative (but pretty morally pungent). It's sort of funny that a lot of people in the comments here had no idea that this stuff exists; it highlights the lack of demographic overlap between people posting on HN and the sort of person that would wind up getting a device like this installed (or need to use a buy here pay here lot).

ceejayoz 8y ago

I'd expect they prevent starting the car, rather than shutting off in the middle of the highway. http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2014/09/car_lenders_use_remote_kill_switch_to_disable_cars_when_borrowers_miss_payments.html http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2014/09/car_lenders_u... > "We can disable the ignition but not while you're driving," Melanie Boudreau, a spokesperson at IMETRIK, a Canadian maker of starter interrupt devices that run around $100 each, told Fortune. "We don't want to kill you."

Bluestrike2 8y ago
That's slightly better I guess (though at driver in the article claimed otherwise), but the driver is still under the expectation that their vehicle will start when they turn the key. What happens when the car won't turn on in an emergency?
- jpatokal 8y ago
  Is that any different from the car not being there because it's been repossessed?
  - X-Istence 8y ago
    You stall in the middle of the highway and need to get it going again?
  - im3w1l 8y ago
    It may obstruct something by remaining standing when the driver wanted to just make a quick stop.
  - bouke 8y ago
    Or you shut it off at a train crossing by accident, a trains is oncoming and you cannot get the car started again? With all your children in the back seats and no time to get them all out?

rpcope1 8y ago

These sort of devices seem to show up a lot on cars from "Buy Here, Pay Here" lots (for buyers at risk of default), and have been for a while now. This is one the ways those sorts of lots make a lot of money; an couple of acquaintances run some of these lots and I'm told some cars may be repossessed many times, often paying themselves off many times over. This is another mode of fleecing the poor like payday loan vendors, and it's real lucrative (but pretty morally pungent). It's sort of funny that a lot of people in the comments here had no idea that this stuff exists; it highlights the lack of demographic overlap between people posting on HN and the sort of person that would wind up getting a device like this installed (or need to use a buy here pay here lot).