We've been watching a U.S. documentary series "Forensic Files" on Netflix after the kids are in bed.
(It's amazing how having 3 children in the house means your preference in television moves towards anything involving police officers methodically discussing FACTS and EVIDENCE as they plod towards a rational conclusion to something. American cops and detectives are also a lot more likeable in real life than mass media would have you believe!)
ANYWAY. in one episode, the police cannot for the life of them find the missing woman's late-90s Nissan coupe. THEN the lady missed a payment on her car (because she was dead) so the Nissan dealers somehow remotely disabled the car's starter so that it wouldn't go.
The killer had been driving around in the car for a few days, but once it wouldn't start he abandoned it, burnt it to try to cover his tracks, but once the cops discovered the burnt-out car, its whereabouts and contents set them on the right track.
The detective who they interviewed was absolutely ASTONISHED at this technology that allowed Nissan to disable the car by remote, he assumed it worked "by satellite or something. "
mm12345,
May 26, 1:04am
That combination smacks more of CSI than documentary.
richardmayes,
May 26, 1:25am
To be fair, I don't know what model or year it was, (they were using a white early 90s Mustang to stand in for her car in all of the re-enactments. the producers seem to focus on whether a car looks "boxy" or "curvy" more than mundane stuff like make,model or year when they hired cars to film their re-eneactments!) But the Nissan original stereo the guy also ripped out of it and tried to sell was a key piece of evidence.
motorboy2011,
May 26, 2:08am
I know of someone who was paying their car off and part of it was that it could be disabled by text. It couldn't be tracked though.
thejazzpianoma,
May 26, 3:32am
It's unlikely to be a Nissan or "Japanese" product at all. GSM remote trackers/disablers have been used by finance companies (even here in NZ) for a decade or so now. They are inexpensive and easy to fit, pretty silly plod not knowing about such technology. You too can have one for about NZ $100. It's far more likely to be one of these third party trackers than any built in "Nissan" tech, there are laws and such that prohibit such things being fitted as standard. Sorry if this sounds negative/condescending, it's not meant to be. BTW, it's funny how people are impressed by tech when it "makes something move/start/stop" remotely. When I was building home automation systems etc, it was common place to "remote in" on request and change settings etc and customers wouldn't blink an eye. However, as soon as you turn on a light, open a CD tray or some such, they get super excited. Never could quite work that one out!
petal_91,
May 26, 3:36am
It was the US finance company, not the Japanese who did it I'd say. As per this article the GPS kill switch is very common on car loans to people considered a credit risk.
However it worked, the cop was genuinely impressed. The way he described it, it was like the dealer had beamed the car up to the starship Enterprise.
purple666,
May 26, 4:55am
I'm glad to see everyone taking something that was on TV so seriously.
mothergoose_nz,
May 26, 5:35am
so what is there to prevent the kill switch causing an accident ?
skull,
May 26, 6:04am
The starter motor was disabled, it wasn't a kill switch.
motorboy2011,
May 26, 6:24am
my GPS tracker wouldn't engage engine kill until the car had been stationary for 5 min
fordcrzy,
May 26, 9:24am
A common gps tracker will only disable the ignition if your speed drops below 30 kmh i think
motorboy2011,
May 26, 5:02pm
correct. If you know how you can set in the cut off speed you want.
captaink,
Sep 10, 7:40pm
Used them years ago on high risk recourse Finance deals. Purchaser was told that a condition of going ahead with the deal was that the unit allowing car to be disabled was going to be fitted, their credit records were such that they always agreed. They worked brilliantly in as much as I don't think we ever activated one other than the warning cycle and more often than not if the purchaser was going to be late we always got a phone call, "Please don't turn my car off I can pay,,,,etc etc" Often took a moment or two to remember what they were alluding to.as we didn't do them often. After the car was paid off they could use the facility themselves. Sold by a company called Total Protection Management I think. Clients were given warnings of impending switching including from memory an LED that could be made to flash and then car had to be stationary for the unit to be activated. Also from memory GPS tracking was also available for obvious extra cost. Certainly on those we fitted, all the clients got themselves back on track and settled their HP;s, should have fitted them on a lot of others tho !
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