Right!

If I had gotten 10 cent each time I heard (or said) this I would be close to 10 € by now :D
I switched to Linux back in 2006 but not everyone has the knowledge, the capacity or the motivation to do so.

Hi there,

Based on the experience I gathered in repair cafes:

• Some old power switches generate an arc (spark?) when flipping them. Cleaning their insides with an "electrical contact cleaner" spray can sometimes help.
• Defective electrochemical capacitors do NOT always swell or leak. If it is worth it swap them all for new ones (We sometimes desolder what we think are good ones from dead appliances to be re-used).
• All domestic appliances around here (France) have an "anti surge" (?) capacitor soldered just after the power cable and power switch. If I understand it correctly, its job is to prevent a "parasitic" current spike to travel back on the domestic electric network when the equipment is switched on. That's the one I would replace in priority to see if it fixes your problem.

Disclaimer : I have no degree in electronics / electrical installations. Take what is above with a grain a salt as I might be dead wrong.
Always unplug the appliance from the mains before tinkering and discharge ALL the capacitors which are on the 110 V /220 V side of the electronics before touching the PCB on which they are soldered.

Good luck with your repair. It would be nice and helpful if you have a chance to post some pictures :)

Would that be what is referred to as Eternal September? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September

I discovered it only a few weeks ago and I am sad to say that 1994-1995 was when I went online for the first time. With an AOL "Free 20 hours access". I undoubtedly contributed to degrade the quality of discussions, not mentioning choking several dial-accesses with the freakinig 50x50 pixels pictures I uploaded on my very first homepage.

Sorry, I'm so sorry…

Valid point, no offense taken. I did not think about the airbags! As for damages to the vehicle, this is something I understand an am willing to accept. If I do stupid things I have to face consequences.
Anyway, getting the help of a mechanic would be point number 1 on my list. If can find one willing to take the challenge :)

Thanks! Knowing that what I might be searching for would be somewhere under the dashboard is a good first step.

Then I am not an engineer nor have any experience in electronics BUT I know from my dad that taking the dashboard apart is not an easy task. If I would succeed I do not know what I would be looking for… Would tan antenna look like a piece of wire? Or could it be embedded in the 'copper' circuitry of a PCB? Do cars use regular SIM cards like the ones found in phones or would they look different?

The maintenance manual would probably be a good place to start before trying to put anything apart.

For recent cars I am afraid you are right. My current and "old" car has a built in navigation system with the map on an SD-card. No need for a connection to a smartphone - which I do not own. Therefore I suppose it is not communicating with the manufacturer.

Then, someone in my family with a more recent car got several "firmware updates" out of the blue, hinting to a 'permanent' connection to the manufacturer.

I have the feeling we need to start organizing and claim a "right to disconnection". Having the car dial for help after a crash is one thing but what Mozilla's report describes is at another, much higher level.

Thanks a lot for your post ! The future of cars looks grim.

Serious and naive question: how could I get rid of the tracking at the hardware level when I will have no choice other than to buy a connected car?
Is there an antenna or a SIM card somewhere that I could disconnect/remove? Would the car continue to work if the connection to the manufacturer's server is lost?

Great! Enjoy :)

Did you ever watch Kedi, the documentary from 2016 about Istanbul's cats?

Yup: write down the password when you set up the software and feed it to your "own" RustDesk on your computer.
Although I recently had a case where the password on the remote machine seemed to have changed by its own, but it could be me or the machine owner who did something funny without noticing.

+1. I use it to help non-tech relatives. Apparently works on different OSes, including Android.
Install, setup password, create icon on desktop and name it "Help me" - Done.

Well, at least they got the piece of string right but… No tissues, no nail clipper and file? No band-aids, disinfectant, eye drops, sugar lumps, lip balm?
Anyway, judging by the weight of my hand bag the curling rock definitely IS somewhere at the bottom but I can't find it. There must be a secret pocket…