Reffro

Just read a short article in Autoexpress (Tabloid Car Mag). Subaru are developing black boxes to record engine data, to detect any modifications from standard spec. Dunno how reliable this report is, but it might give you something to think about....

STi VII

I'm sure that using a booster to jump start an engine would have the required effect of corrupting data.

elgordano

data protection act comes to mind

sti-04!!

**** them !!

they start doing that then i will jump to the dark side

scoobyslut

The data available off the current ECU programs is capable of letting anyone "read" if the system is running anything other than "normal" anyway. thats why most dealers can "get out" of a majority of warranty claims these days without a problem.

MJW

Plus I think anyone with warranty-busting mods would more than likely not put a claim in if something went wrong anyway.
I don't think this is a conspiracy by IM to make everyone buy PPP, and personally wouldn't wipe my backside with Autoexpress, the 'Sunday Sport' of the motoring press.

TopBanana

It's just logging data.... so send it massaged data! It won't take long to get around it

Dracoro

Won't be an issue at all unless there's data in the black box that identifies you. Remember the ecu currently stores info anyway. the black box idea will just hold more info and will not be tamperable. It'll be 'sealed', if seal is broken then so is warranty. The computer in the box will be able to tell if garbage data comes through (so jump starting won't make a difference )

What's to worry about unless you are planning to fraud subaru by adding engine mods yet expecting the warranty to still be valid.

SilverTurboWagon

Vauxhall?

Jiggerypokery

"Subaru expect to have the system installed within two years."

... and some smart **** expects to find a way to defeat it within two days.

DaveR

who cares, really?

if you've remapped your ECU then likely as not you also have a huge bung-hole of an exhaust strapped to the back of your car anyway (at least I do ), plus it's 10 times louder than normal and goes like stink (unlike PPP LOL)

so it's a bit of a giveaway anyway!!

I would still expect them to honour my warranty for things like undue rust, electric mirrors, aircon and generally stuff I haven't touched. But I would be an idiot to expect them to fix the engine which I have clearly been d1ck1ing about with......

fivepint

More worrying would be what info recorded on the black box would be relavent to the police after an incident, although AFAIK the police can already ask a manufactuer to access ECU and ABS logs after a serious crash.... most manufactuers can already tell a car has been modded just by inspecting the ECU in detail...

BMWhere?

I doubt this is any sort of screw the owner type device, theres no point, they can screw you already.

Black boxes in aircraft are used to determine what went wrong in the event of an accident/incident. I would expect a black box in a car would be used to log the same sort of info for use after an accident to determine the cause and to help Subaru improve car designs to improve safety. IMHO this sort of real world crash data will be far more useful for improving vehicle safety that all the simulated crash testing they do at the moment.

scoobycar60

I can understand the logic here, those keeping their cars standard need not worry, if you up the performance on your car on your head be it.
After all those happy with standard cars statistically are paying more for their warranty/car as a result of funding dodgy claims for badly modded engines going pop.
I expect in the real world the "black box" will fall victim to "modding" itself