Tesla remote detects Boost50 acceleration mod

[Aphinity]

Am I missing something? It seems that the car is merely alerting you that it knows you installed an incompatible modification to your car. From what I read in the thread, nothing is affected, other than that message being on the screen. \

Still goes vroom vroom fast, I think?

I would LOVE if Tesla would let me void my drive system warranty by buying a track mode and performance mode for my SR+. One day, I hope they will. I'd rather pay them than a 3rd party, but I'll do that if it gets me what I want my car to do.

I just wanna turn off traction control and do burnouts.

 

[Mash]

So we moved from undetectable, to "since it's not stopping you, it won't stop later as well". Tesla is rightfully acts that consumers are victims of fraud here. And some of them are. First they let you know, that they know, next you start losing features until it wouldn't make sense.

 

[Fernand]

Folks, this is nothing like hacked access to entertainment.

(Maybe if your satellite receiver weighed tons and was flying around).

And nothing like hacking an ICE engine.

(Maybe if the engine controlled the steering and brakes too)

It's dangerous and a huge liability for everyone involved.
.

 

[smatthew]

Unrelated: but...Is this theft too?

Tesla Massage Module for Model 3,Y | Intelligentized Auto Parts | Hansshow

They're using parts largely already available on the car: It accelerates wear on those parts.

And when you go in to complain that your seat isn't working, they'll say "Sir, you modified the seat. No warranty for you"
Just like if you show up with a boost50 module (or they've detected one previously) and ask for warranty work on your drivetrain. "Sir, you modified the drivetrain. No warranty work for you"

The thing is, this is going to hurt when Tesla blocks/disables the boost50 module, but keeps records of everyone detected using it..... and denies them their drivetrain warranty.

PS: I feel like it's a badge of honor when ElectricIAC disagrees with you.

 

[ElectricIAC]

The Tesla white-knighting is strong in this thread..As if the favor would be returned.

 

[ElectricIAC]

Looks like a module has been created to counteract the “discovery” of B50.

 

[one2many]

Well I do not understand the fuss. If someone want to put
aftermarket seats, floormats or boost who cares. When there are
millions of out of warranty Tesla's on the road, the aftermarket will
be big. As motors evolve and batteries we will see more an more
of this and Tesla knows this. Car guys love to tinker so let them (be).

 

[dmurphy]

Well I do not understand the fuss. If someone want to put
aftermarket seats, floormats or boost who cares. When there are
millions of out of warranty Tesla's on the road, the aftermarket will
be big. As motors evolve and batteries we will see more an more
of this and Tesla knows this. Car guys love to tinker so let them (be).

The difference is - we’re talking about a module that interrupts and rewrites signals on the CANbus between the throttle input and the drivetrain. Based - not on specs or APIs - but on reserve engineering of how the car works.

That’s dangerous. You always THINK you know what’s going on. But the edge cases can be deadly.

Changing your seat or installing a massager or whatever - fine, as long as you don’t ask for warranty work if you break it.

But playing man-in-the-middle with the throttle control on a >2 ton vehicle with all sorts of automation seems colossally stupid. And dangerous - not just to whomever uses the module, but whatever unlucky bystander is in the way when there’s an edge case.

By detecting the undetectable module, Tesla’s already proven the developers of this thing don’t know what they think they do.

 

[one2many]

I am not saying it does not have risk, it does. If you took every car off the road
that does not have factory parts off the road, well there would not be many left.
Something simple as breaks, sensors and so on, could be deadly in ICE cars.
Hell my carpet stuck my gas pedal at full, blew up my motor. The guys that do
CANbus and other hacks sometime know more that the developers. Can you
really trust any car with software ? Most is tested to about 80%.

 

[TMThree]

You pay $100 for MS Windows. Microsoft offers PRO upgrade for $100 more. OR a 3rd party offers you the PRO upgrade for $10 more.

Which do you pick? Is the 3rd party unlock of your existing desktop operating system legal?

Now change Windows to "Model 3", and PRO into "boost".

It's a software unlock using a dongle. We used to have the same stuff on CAD software back in the day.



Performance upgrades on your vehicle is obviously legal, but unlocking a paid upgrade with a 3rd party hack doesn't sound legal to me.

 

[Mash]

I am not saying it does not have risk, it does. If you took every car off the road
that does not have factory parts off the road, well there would not be many left.
Something simple as breaks, sensors and so on, could be deadly in ICE cars.
Hell my carpet stuck my gas pedal at full, blew up my motor. The guys that do
CANbus and other hacks sometime know more that the developers. Can you
really trust any car with software ? Most is tested to about 80%.

No, hackers don't know Tesla better than Tesla R&D. And, no, it's not a carpet under pedal thing and you know it. It's a hack that bound to stop working made on electronics with questionable reliability

 

[dmurphy]

It's a software unlock using a dongle. We used to have the same stuff on CAD software back in the day.

That's not how this module works. It's not a bit-flipper - it's actually intercepting and rewriting throttle commands.
So, ya know - all that design and testing and redundancy that Tesla built into the throttle modules? The stuff that they've used in court - successfully - EVERY SINGLE TIME - a knucklehead sues because they hit the accelerator instead of the brake?

Yeah, this device intercepts all that and does whatever the hell it does to those commands.

Just a very bad idea. I'm all for mods - want to change your wheels, tires, whatever? Go nuts. But this is monkeying with the communication between the go-pedal and the motor. That's a really bad idea.

 

[one2many]

Well if you removed all illegal MS software, half of the US would go black.
They tried it and did not go well. So if I put a racing engine in my Duster,
the police should arrest me ??

 

[Knightshade]

That's not how this module works. It's not a bit-flipper - it's actually intercepting and rewriting throttle commands.
So, ya know - all that design and testing and redundancy that Tesla built into the throttle modules? The stuff that they've used in court - successfully - EVERY SINGLE TIME - a knucklehead sues because they hit the accelerator instead of the brake?

Yeah, this device intercepts all that and does whatever the hell it does to those commands.

Just a very bad idea. I'm all for mods - want to change your wheels, tires, whatever? Go nuts. But this is monkeying with the communication between the go-pedal and the motor. That's a really bad idea.

FWIW it's doing something other than pedal remapping

If it were simply amplifying the accelerator pedal signal then the car wouldn't be any quicker 0-60. 100% is 100%

 

[dmurphy]

FWIW it's doing something other than pedal remapping

If it were simply amplifying the accelerator pedal signal then the car wouldn't be any quicker 0-60. 100% is 100%

Agreed - it's not just running values against a multiplier... which is why I think this thing is even worse. It really is rewriting CANbus messages on the fly... No idea which ones - I don't know (and don't really care) how it works, but I know the law of unintended consequences will show up sooner or later.

 

[ElectricIAC]

This thread inspires a new slogan.

“Boost 50, Brave the unknown.”

“Boost 50, Leaving FUD in the rear view”

“Boost 50, Cat and Mouse redefined”

 

[MagnusMako]

So we moved from undetectable, to "since it's not stopping you, it won't stop later as well". Tesla is rightfully acts that consumers are victims of fraud here. And some of them are. First they let you know, that they know, next you start losing features until it wouldn't make sense.

There is nothing fraudulent or illegal about this mod, despite your continuous posts saying such but not backing it up with any kind of reference to what laws (atleast here in the USA) are being broken.

 

[Knightshade]

There is nothing fraudulent or illegal about this mod, despite your continuous posts saying such but not backing it up with any kind of reference to what laws (atleast here in the USA) are being broken.

Advertising it as undetectable is arguably fraud- since not only did that turn out untrue- it was very obvious to most here even from the start that couldn't possibly be true.



We'd need more technical info to know if any laws were otherwise broken- probably not but I can certainly conceive of several ways such a device COULD work that might have legal concerns- likewise ways it would not. (having legit data on if performance is genuinely slightly different from the 2k unlock would help here but I'm not aware of availability of such)

 

[MXLRplus]

It is not illegal to modify the engine output of any motor vehicle in the USA, not even in California. What IS illegal is to mfr, sell, or install any device that affects tailpipe emissions systems, unless the device has been approved by CARB/EPA. ie - I can remove the maximum speed limiter or change the wheel size reported to the ECM and it's 100% legal. Those are 'reflashes'. Even the dealer tool can do this.

If it WAS illegal, Tesla could be cited by CARB because they reflash tables that affect engine output after the car is delivered.

I closed my business because of this law. When a competitor was slapped with a $250,000 fine, I pulled the plug.

 

[Knightshade]

It is not illegal to modify the engine output of any motor vehicle in the USA, not even in California. What IS illegal is to mfg, sell, or install any device that effects tailpipe emissions systems, unless the device has been approved by CARB/EPA.

I closed my business because of this law. When a competitor was slapped with a $250,000 fine, I pulled the plug.

It's also illegal to steal paid services from a company. If this device was flipping the bit to tell the car you paid 2k for the boost (plus also doing the door open or whatever nonsense) it'd potentially be illegal the same way a hacked satellite card saying you paid for HBO would be.

If instead they entirely wrote their own code to intercept canbus data input from the "not boosted" car and instead send out "here's our own commands to the drive units to make it act LIKE it's boosted" that'd be no issue.


What's interesting is if it's that second one, there's no good reason they couldn't have offered such a device for RWD cars too-- and they don't.


If I had to guess- they basically copied Teslas boost code (which only works on LR AWD cars obviously) and changed it JUST enough to avoid a lawsuit- but don't really understand the systems well enough that they could write their own from-scratch code to work on a RWD car.

But that's just a guess.