Think twice before getting just any #car. #AutoIndustry failings... - http://clapway.com/2015/08/16/more-than-200000-car-seats-recalled-due-to-malfunctions321/

More than 200k auto seats unsafe

Britax, a manufacturing giant that includes children’s car seats among its line-up of products, has had to recall over 200,000 of them due to harness adjuster buttons that can stick and potentially cause the shoulder straps to loosen, making the seat unsafe. The dates in question center around August 1, 2014 and July 29. According to the official website, they have been in business for over 70 years and came to American consumers in 1996.

How it happened

Consumers became a powerful force of nature after one of them posted to Facebook, and others started going to federal regulators with complaints of the harness button being possibly stuck. After an internal audit, and pressure from an increasingly unsatisfied customer base the company decided to recall a large portion of their car seats out of an abundance of caution.

What’s being done to fix it?

Consumers can apparently look to see if they are on the recall list by looking at the date their particular seat was manufactured. In addition to notifying customers if their particular car seat is in need of recall or repair, they will also send a lubrication kit as well. After a one-time application is applied to the car seat the adjuster button should move and function normally, thereby removing the risk of the car seat shoulder straps loosening. The shoulder straps in question are meant to not only make the car seat more secure for holding children, but also function as one of the more primary tools in holding the child back in the case of a crash which has the potential to throw smaller children around.

Lessons learned

What many can learn from such an incident is a potential case-study in consumer buying power and the nature of future company recalls. In the age of social media and the internet, such incidents show that not even manufacturing giants in the tech world are immune to internet criticism. While the car seats were recalled and no injuries have been reported thus far, the car seat recall is another example of a tech world dependent on reliability and information.

More than 200,000 Car Seats Recalled Due to Malfunctions

Hackers Can Use a $32 Device to Break Into Your Car and Garage Undetected - http://clapway.com/2015/08/10/hackers-can-use-a-32-device-to-break-into-your-car-and-garage-undetected123/

For most consumers, the DEF CON hacker convention is a place to hear about how vulnerable every single electronic device in your home is, but it serves a very useful purpose: it educates developers on how to code smarter. One of the latest scare stories to come from the conference was presented by a hacker named Samy Kamkar. Kamkar has developed a device that allows him to hack into any modern car or garage.

Taking a Look at the RollJam

During the hacker conference, Kamkar introduced a relatively cheap device he called the “RollJam.” It’s a $32 radio jamming device that is incredibly small, and designed to exploit the “rolling codes” that are so prevalent in the keyless entry systems of most vehicles. Worse yet, this same device can also be used to deactivate car alarms outright, making them largely useless.

How Does It Work?

The concept behind RollJam is incredibly simple. Kamkar said that a would-be hacker would simply plant the device near the target vehicle and wait. The victim would come out to the vehicle and press the key fob in an attempt to unlock it, but it will not work the first time. The second attempt will be successful, and while the victim may think it strange for a few minutes, they’ll likely continue about their day without giving it a second thought. The hacker would then return to the vehicle, replay the recorded code, and viola, they then have access to the car.

Rolling codes are a security measure that automakers have been using in an attempt to throw off “code grabbers” that hackers have been using for years. Vehicles that use rolling codes never reuse the same code twice, so each code should technically be unique, but RollJam has a clever way around this.

The first time the victim attempts to unlock the car, the RollJam jams the signal using two radios that emit noise onto the most common radio frequencies used by auto manufacturers. A third radio then intercepts the code needed to gain access to the car. In the second attempt the RollJam blocks the signal again, but signals the first code it picked up so the car will unlock for the victim. Meanwhile, the device retains the second code it picked up so it can be used again when the hacker retrieves the device. Scary, huh?

RollJam has Successfully Hacked a Wide Range of Vehicles from Manufacturers like Volkswagen, Toyota, and Cadillac

In the presentation, Kamkar has said he has already tested the device on multiple vehicles and had success with a decent amount of major auto manufacturers, and a few garage door openers. Kamkar believes that there are millions of automobiles out on the road today that are susceptible to hackers using this vulnerability, but many auto manufacturers are already working on alternatives to rolling codes.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qu3Z6AbM2D0

 

Hackers Can Use a $32 Device to Break Into Your Car and Garage Undetected