what are your other reasons?

 

There must be a way to override it. There just must be.

 

Depends how it's implemented. If it's a standalone box, sure, unplug it. If it's integrated into the EFI computer, though, it becomes considerably more complex to remove. As I said originally, you'd have to go to an aftermarket computer, which makes the car very difficult to use in markets that do ODBII emissions scanning (unless you get clever). As well, with all of the GT-R's gadgets and transmission crap, it becomes even more of an uphill battle.

It's doable, but probably not easily doable.

One trick would be to accept that it's there, and just make it difficult for anyone else to retrieve-- protect the ECU from removal, block the ODB ports, etc.

 

The implications of a device like this are really far reaching, and frankly, pretty scary. Unfortunately I don't think it will be too long before things like this become commonplace on automobiles, and in general.

Here's an extreme example. Say you own the car, and you're a responsible driver, but once in a while, on an empty road, you blast it up to triple digits to have a little fun; I mean, what's the purpose of owning a car like this if you can't have some fun once in a while.
Then one day you're driving along in traffic, not breaking the law, and you are involved in an unfortunate and unavoidable accident in which someone is killed or seriously injured. The police obtain the information from the black box, see that you've had the car up to illegal speeds on a few occasions, and then use that information to establish a "pattern of unsafe driving". Next thing you know, you're in jail for involuntary manslaughter.

Big brother is watching indeed.

 

as far as I know,there are a few cars that save relevant data like acceleration,speed upon impact,throttle,braking etc....simply a lot of details that might be crucial for investigations on an accident.
I think it was Audi,BMW or Volkswagen

BMW is pretty advanced in this field..

for example,a data set from my car automatically sent to BMW every few months...
If you hook up a Laptop to the ECU and have the required software and knowledge,you can look into the brain of the car and see if there was ever anything abnormal...even the slightest deviation of normal values in the system is being recorded.
It`s good for the future development of cars,but as mentioned earlier in this thread, it can be used against you..

And there`s the problem with tunes...every Tuner who claims that his tune is not detectable is lying...
If the car Co. searches hard enough,they`ll detect the tune anyway.


So it`s no suprise that a car like the GTR(obviously famous among car enthusiasts) has a seperate unit on board which is solely used for recording anything the car has done in the last time...

So this can be a good tool if you`re in the right boat...(reviewing car history when buying used car,being innocently involved in an accident etc)
but a pretty evil tool if you`re in the wrong one ;D

 

Knowing about the black box will void your GTR's warranty...

 

 

Screw that if any vehicle i own has that it will be remove and i will have stand alone fuel injection or a good ol' carburetor I dont like the idea of being watch 24/7.....BY MY CAR

 

Most are, but not all. The majority of "tuners" map out an ECU's fuel and timing hex, and maybe a few other metrics, and they conclude that they have mapped the whole box, change some settings, and send you on your way. Any dealer can detect that.

However, the real pros-- and there are a few who are extraordinarily talented, and equally expensive-- will indeed map out everything in a given ECU, change what they want, and even trick dealer scanners by providing the original software checksum. So far as the dealer knows, they get a green idiot light that says "ECU ok" and send you on your way. They'd have to dump the ECU and disassemble the code to find that anything had indeed been changed, and no dealer is going to do that.

A manufacturer might, should they receive your ECU after an accident, which opens a whole 'nother can of worms.

My advice for the paranoid:

1) Don't buy a car with a black box, or disable it if you do.

2) Don't crash.

3) Cut the foil anti-tamper strip on your ECU. You'll probably void your warranty, at least on the ECU, but if data is recovered after a crash while you're incapacitated, it would be much more difficult to prove that the data was true and genuine as the ECU had been "tampered" with.

4) Make it slightly more interesting a procedure to remove the ECU than the factory intended. This can again make your life interesting should the dealer have to replace the thing, but, better that than some of the alternatives I suppose.

 

Kinda funny. . . I agree. Not too much gets me jazzed lately. What I DO like as of late is more of the 4WD/off-road capable kind of stuff. I love the G-Wagen.