An interesting story is circulating about a man and his Bronco. It turns out it’s not really his – and not just because he hadn’t finished making payments on it. The Bronco’s “owner” – if you want to use that word – says that Ford remotely disabled his new Bronco after he missed making a payment. He says it happened while he was driving on a busy road. The Bronco just went inert.
Whether the story is true isn’t what matters. What does matter is that it could be true.
Ford – and it’s not just Ford – can exert operational control over its vehicles whenever it wishes. The italics are used to emphasize who actually owns the vehicle, if the measure of ownership is who controls a thing. Ford says this control – which it refers to as a “repossession computer” in a 2021 patent application – would only be used to control vehicles that are not paid-off, if the person who took out the loan stops making payments (as in the case of Scott Lubik, the man who says Ford asserted control over his not-yet-paid-off Bronco after he failed to make a payment). But – legally speaking – Lubik and others who still owe a balance due are the owners of the vehicle, not Ford. That their is a lien on the title does not change the legal standing of the person whose name is on the title. Ford doesn’t get sent the property tax bill (in states that have this tax). The legal owner gets sent the bill.
Ford says its patent filing “does not necessarily indicate any forthcoming business or product strategies” and also that it has “no intentions to implement this” . . .
Well, “necessarily” is not exactly a hard no, is it? And “intentions” can and often do change, don’t they?
The really important thing to grasp is that this ability to exert remote control over a vehicle isn’t disconnected when the vehicle is paid-for. It remains embedded. It can be activated at any time. Piecemeal – or all at once. What are styled “non-essential” features such as the stereo, air conditioning and various power accessories can be disabled over-the-air, via an “update.” Ford’s patent describes this – and more. Payment welshers can also be subjected to annoying noise pumped through the vehicle’s audio system. Or they can be locked out of the vehicle; the key fob transmitter is rendered inoperative. You can’t get in – and even if you manage to break in, the engine won’t start. Once again, this is presented as a way to repossess vehicles more efficiently – which, as such, is not illegitimate. If you stop making your mortgage payments, eventually, you’ll be locked out of your house, too.
The thing that makes this ominous is – again – that the capability remains in effect even if you’ve paid in full. It merely lies dormant. Consider the implications of this.
You are never going to be the owner of the vehicle so-equipped. You will be allowed conditional possession (and use) of the vehicle. The vehicle’s manufacturer retains ownership, if the word means what it once meant. To understand this, consider your teenaged kid, if you have one. You probably allow your kid to drive your car. Of course, it remains your car – because (ultimately) you control whether your kid is allowed to use it and you can exert control over it, just not remotely. That is why your kid understands the car he’s allowed to drive isn’t actually his car. There’s nothing sinister about this. Because it is your car, which gives you the moral right to assert control over its use. That is why most teenagers want to own their own car. At least, it used to be so. Owning a car was something like donning the toga of adulthood in ancient Rome. It was a visible assertion that the child had become an adult.
What’s occurring now – what has already occurred – is a kind of reversion to childhood. Worse than that. It is a sort of perpetual childhood imposed by the state. No, it is worse than that. Children are, generally, well-treated by their parents because most parents love their children and want the best for them. A big part of that is wanting them to grow up. To become adults themselves. This business is about turning adults into children-prisoners.
Your car will never be yours because it will always be subject to control by others.
There is a way to escape the crib-prison. It is to not buy a car you’ll never own, no matter how long-ago you paid for it. This is the only way to throw sand in the gears of this nefarious machine.
But will enough of us do it? Or will will too many of us do the usual – and accept it as just the way it is?
. . .
If you like what you’ve found here please consider supporting EPautos.
We depend on you to keep the wheels turning!
Our donate button is here.
If you prefer not to use PayPal, our mailing address is:
EPautos
721 Hummingbird Lane SE
Copper Hill, VA 24079
PS: Get an EPautos magnet or sticker or coaster in return for a $25 or more one-time donation or a $10 or more monthly recurring donation. (Please be sure to tell us you want a magnet or sticker or coaster – and also, provide an address, so we know where to mail the thing!)
If you’d like a Baaaaa hat or other EPautos gear, see here!
First I don’t believe this guy’s story. He’s either lying or he’s misinterpreted something.
Did he finance through Ford Credit or something else?
To Ford the manufacturer the car is paid for the moment they get the check from the lender. The only reason for them to care is if the lender is their sister company, Ford Credit.
My guess is the disablement came from the dealership who arranged some sort financing that had nothing to do with Ford. That disablement is likely from a 3rd party device added to the car by the dealership. Either that or a software update bricked it and he just thinks it was because he didn’t make his payments. Or it’s just entirely made up.
As to patents. Patents are often applied for to block competitors and/or have licensing to trade with.
not buy a car you’ll never own is the solution, meaning don’t buy a car on credit, meaning don’t buy a car that is over your means if you can’t pay it cash.
However, the probelm remains the same since the criminals in congress have now mandated that every new car will need to have a camera spying on you while you are driving and the ability to stop the car remotely.
The only way to stop that is to either disable the systems allowing this totalitarian abuse or buy only older cars (until they forbid them).
Eventually we all will have to go outlaws to stay free in the dystopia they create. And this is not a right, left or center matter as they are all into it.
Of course the scumbags imposing these laws are either exempt or don’t even drive as they have their drivers for them.
The second amendment clearly states that people must be armed and assemble into militias in case of tyranny.
How long has tyranny existed in the USA and all other western countries?
For a while already, some would say since 1913 when they took over our money and economy by forcing fraudulently a central bank on us, others would say it started with the civil war, but obviously since the israeli/inside job of 9/11/2001, tyranny made itself clearly known.
Since then, they manufcatured other crises, notably the banker’s takeover of 2008 and of course the global takeover of 2020 of which we are still under.
There is tyranny.
There is a duty and right in the 2nd amendement allowing citizen to take donw tyranny by arms if need be.
We don’t have too much time left before a full fledge dictatorship. Digitla id’s, CDBC (stablecoins), digitalization and tokenization, Ai, 24/7 surveillance systems and their ability to reven remote controls our personal transport vehicles, not mentionning geo-engineering, DEW, and other weapons. Once all that is in place and it’s coming at high speed, it’s over.
Most if not all the politicians in power in the West are illegitimate, in the US, the majority of congress is made of traitors who dserve the death penalty, same for the puppet regime in place and the ones before.
Taking down everything will hurt but much less than being some kind of slave, cattle or jailed or dead for refusing to be one.
Here is an example of things to come when technology meets stupidity at its finest from a car dealership and AGW with a shoot first, ask questions later modus operandi.
The guy is a Coast Guard training officer buys his dream truck from a dealership (Doral Volkswagen of Doral Florida). The dealership screws up the title, does not control their inventory, then reports the vehicle stolen. The dealership provides the police the *Low Jack* technology to locate the vehicle. The police, instead of approaching this as an investigation, go full SWAT on the guy and ram the truck from behind in a parking lot. Arrest the guy take him downtown all the while he has paperwork showing he just bought the vehicle. Then he can’t get his military stuff out of the vehicle at impound yard because the title comes back as being owned by someone else. Then the dealership rep shows up and says they will clear all this up if he signs an agreement not to sue plus an NDA. He refuses and has no vehicle and missing what he needs to perform his duties plus has to explain to his officers at the base why he got arrested. Lastly, the guy hires probably the worst lawyer I’ve seen in an interview (hope he changes him out).
Moral of the story; lazy shitty dealership makes a bad decision then doubles down by getting their lawyer involved rather than comp the guy and make him whole. Armed government workers, (likely ignoring gang bangers and dead hookers), go full Stasi in their pursuit of this innocent guy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOv-SbmaEX8&t=1s
Doral. That’s where the guy went wrong in the first place.
Doral Volkswagen is part of the Lithia Auto Group out of Medford, Oregon.
Bill Meyer’s part of the country!
Roscoe,
I live in the NW and Lithia is bad news.
Everything makes perfect sense when we understand what they are planning for us.
ie: Money Won’t Matter in 10 Years?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LHnK1gtgPA
I believe the Bronco guy, because it happened to a family member. In 2024, a family member purchased a brand new Bobcat. He wrote a check to the dealership for $83k (the total cost of the machinery). They delivered it to the house and it worked for about 72 hours and as the guy was working in the field with it the machine completely shuttered. Nothing would start, just dead. The guy walks back to the house (because the Bobcat wasn’t moving). Calls the dealership on why his brand new Bobcat isn’t working. Dealership doesn’t have a clue. They tell him they need to contact Bobcat. About 30 minutes later he gets a call back that it was cutoff for nonpayment. Of course, the gentleman, thoroughly pissed at this point, starts yelling that he paid for the equipment in full and has the paperwork to prove it. Another hour goes by and the accounting department at the dealership calls him apologizing that they do indeed have his check, but they forgot to notify Bobcat. Bobcat shuttered the equipment because they believe payment was never rendered.
This is one of many scenarios on why I refuse to buy new stuff. Not only is everything today junk, but some computer can hold you for ransom anytime and anywhere.
I won’t go into detail how that piece of crap also broke down twice within six months of purchase and had to be trailered to Richmond for repair both times.
FYI John Deere does the exact same thing so it does not surprise me that auto manufacturers would jump in on the game. Just wait until you don’t pay your Lowe’s bill and your new refrigerator door won’t open….it’s coming.
Morning, RG –
I believe the Bronco guy, too – because I know for certain this is possible. The trap has already been sprung. Anyone who owns a late-model vehicle that is “connected” needs to understand what they have bought into.
There must be a way to disable or remove the transmitter to these vehicles. Make it so they have no communication with the manufacturer.
Morning, Groundhog!
There may be; however, I suspect that – like the Borg in Star Trek – the things cannot be severed from their connection to the collective. Not without major systems going offline. It is a certainty the dealer will refuse to service the thing and warranty coverage will be voided.
I think that’s what happens too Eric,
If the vehicle doesn’t get a signal from the hive after a certain amount of time it probably just bricks until gets an “all clear” from the Borg. Problem for us is that fewer and fewer non-connected cars will be available as rust and scarcity of parts become a problem in years ahead.
That’s why we have to buy them all, Mike. 😁
All of our yards and garages should look like a cheaper version of Leno’s.
Depends on the make/model/year. There are instructions online how to disconnect and disable the outside communications.
You may take a hit on some services, like location. Others are more tied in and could make it near impossible to disable.
Some are easy to get to and some require decent disassembly of the dash.
This guy says it’s possible to disable it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rHLodtOKm4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e09Kjj2awG0
He calls it a hidden fuse panel then says it’s in the kick panel where the fuse panel has been in most cars since the 1980s.
Hi RG.
My understanding is that all connected technology has that capability. Perhaps that’s why I try to avoid it as much as I can.
Hi Landru,
I agree with you. No good comes with being connected to the Internet 24/7. This is the exact reason I hang out an antique stores. It is nice to walk, look, and rummage through tangible goods. Just bought two beautiful glass vintage Waterford platters for $15 each. People have no idea what they are getting rid of.
The host of “Smarter Every Day” youtube channel is too polite to use the phrase, but what he describes is the enshitification of everything: https://youtu.be/vS6HEes8daw?si=Ht2_7lpwcuB9WLMD
In this case it’s the enshitification of chinesium grill scrapers. He set out to make a fully made in the USA product. This is the second of the series. Both are worth the time investment.
What were the best cars your classmates got when they turned sixteen? For my class, at Page High School (class of 1988), one kid got a brand new Mustang 5.0 and another got a brand new dark red IROC Z Camaro. Those were the best two. This other guy had the Mitsubishi version of the Dodge Laser, and he was always bragging about all kinds of amazing specs. It looked cool though, and it seemed pretty rare. I got a new or almost new Renault Alliance when I turned sixteen. It was gold. $2500. It was cool when girls who never spoke to me before started asking for rides in 11th grade.
Morning, KMose!
It was a similar scene at my high school. There were also a lot of first-generation (’60s and ’70s) muscle cars in the parking lot, too. By the early-mid 1980s, these were just old beaters that could be bought cheap by a high school kid. A buddy of mine had a ’71 Plymouth GTX with the 440. Today, that car would be worth $50k at least. Back then, it was just an old “gas guzzler.”
I remember those Mitsu Starions – I though they looked cool, too!
Ahh yes, the Renault Alliance. It was infamously named Motor Trend Car of the Year for 1983. Although they don’t admit to it, I suspect Motor Trend got paid to say this.
https://www.motortrend.com/news/why-renault-alliance-was-1983-motortrend-car-of-the-year
I actually owned two of them and they were good cheap cars. The coupe was bought new by my sister, (I laughed at her) who somehow shelled the 1.4 engine after 3 years, then gave it to my dad who put a junkyard engine in it. Then, since it sat for 2 years, California demanded 3 years registration to license it so dad jumped in, drove it back to the Midwest, and gave it to me. That crap box got 38mpg on pump gas, and got totaled twice, once rear ended in Minneapolis traffic, and once when a load of snow fell off a roof on it. The second was a highly optioned convertible, not a bad looking cheap car, which I ran for a year until I got tired of it and sold at a profit.
I wish there were still cheap cars that good.
I still see pretty decent “cheap” cars out there. I browse facebook marketplace frequently. There are always Accords and Camrys for well under $5k. Some gas guzzler SUVs like Tahoes can be had for that price range too.