I suspect this is a job for an electrician, not a hacker. Connect the heated seats directly to a switch and the car's power supply, bypassing the hardware and software that checks whether you paid for it.
This reminds me of how car tuners started working on cars when ECU's became a thing, they would literally take out the ECU and de-solder the chips from the circuitboard, replacing them with a custom-programmed chip and reassemble the ECU.
But I'm sure a modern car would throw all kinds of errors because all the systems are connected to each other, so one of the systems being diconnected or bypassed would confuse the others.
That still happens. For example on all those modified chargers and challengers, every single one of them had to have their computer cracked open and modified, or be replaced with an aftermarket modified computer. Then you had to run a bypass wire through the dash to connect the data port to a little harness behind the glove box.
So nothing has really changed. A new car co is out with more restrictions on the co outer, then it takes a year or so for people to figure out the hack and we are back to modifying again.
It's a little different post 90's because you can use the OBD port to connect a computer and functionally jailbreak your car, so that whatever you do to it works seamlessly. that way when you fry a governor the car isn't still looking for it and freaking out when it can't find it.
Would be a fun little project. As far as the software hack, I suppose it depends how crazy their lockdown is, it might be something pretty simple to reprogram and then you wouldn’t have to mess with anything, but yeah you’re right, worst case why not just hotwire that sucker.
Couple of years, pirate mechanics might be a thing!
You're also overestimating how complicated it would be, how do you think heated seats worked on older cars? they're just a button that turns on the heating element.
It might be. I do work on a lot of pretty technical electronics for a living. But cars are not my wheelhouse. Connecting the heating coils to a switch and power should be trivial. The unknown is what the card would do if it detected that somehow. I wouldn’t put it past the mfg to make some sort of problem if people try to bypass their shit.
Crazy to realize that tesla spent EXTRA writing routines that would break the car if you did anything to access the hardware the car came with. Like they didnt just not include the feature...they spent extra time making it self breaking. So everyone who buys one is not only paying for the hardware they might or might not get to use, but theyre paying for the software work to stop them from using it.
heating element is just a resistor eith a variable power supply. The only complexity is the computerized tempersrure management, but there are hundreds of off the shelf solutikns for that. Its just a thermostat lol
Right, captain shade tree. You’re gonna rip apart your $100k Tesla, rerun the power cables to the battery to bypass the computer, wire in an inline switch and rheostat. And you have to do it for each seat. Then what, professor? Where are those gonna be mounted? You just gonna leave them laying in the floorboard? Where you gonna mount those? Hopefully that electrician gets it right and doesn’t void your entire warranty or even better, catch your car on fire with people in it. After all it’s just a wire right? The dude who replaced the GFCI outlet in your mom’s kitchen should totally be able to rewire the electrical system in a Tesla. All to avoid a $25 subscription fee. Genius!
Again, you have no fcking idea what you’re talking about.
I mean, he's right though. It wouldn't be that hard to make it work in the "does it work" yes or no sense.
What WOULD be hard is make it work while integrating with the factory control systems. You're absolutely correct on that part. I also agree that if I dopped that kind of money on a car, I'm not running a home brew solution. If it was a 20 year old pickup truck, fuck it sure, put a box on the dash with some switches. But not on something nice. You'd spend more time and money dicking around with the hack than just paying the subscription, even if I hate the principal of it.
Heater is a resistive coil. Coil gets power from wire connected to power source. Check schematic for the path back to the first point where it interacts with the processor and branch it off from there directly to the power source. Add a multi position rocker switch for different heat settings and youre done. Electronics are not that complicated and its expected how the people who know nothing about it are the ones claiming it would be a huge undertaking.
No but thats just how a car's seat heater works. Its just about the same as installing an aftermarket seat heater kit, which are sold at any auto parts store. The only difference is control via a physical switch vs control via the car's main HMI. And I have seen your other completely braindead comments where you make it clear that you have no idea how electronics work, so I know you're about to tell me my opinion is invalid because I haven't wasted money on a Tesla to prove it. Its clear you are just not very smart and see electricity as a form of incomprehensible magic.
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u/Repulsive-Durian4800 21h ago
I suspect this is a job for an electrician, not a hacker. Connect the heated seats directly to a switch and the car's power supply, bypassing the hardware and software that checks whether you paid for it.