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Author Topic: Any Nissan car owners  (Read 2024 times)

Bowdon

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Any Nissan car owners
« on: February 17, 2018, 01:55:43 PM »

I noticed over the last few weeks that there as been a lot of vehicle break-ins of Nissan made cars. All that is being stolen is the SD Card from the built in satnav.

So if you're leaving your car for a long time, like overnight, I recommend you remove the SD Card yourself. I think Nissan sell a sticker you can put on your car saying something similar to 'No SD Card installed'.
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jelv

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Re: Any Nissan car owners
« Reply #1 on: February 17, 2018, 06:53:38 PM »

Although our X-Trail has a built in Sat Nav we bought the Caravan Club one which is a Garmin unit that allows you to enter details of your outfit (total length, width, height and weight). It is so much better than the Nissan one and comes with lifetime updates (new SD cards from Nissan are extortionate) so often we use the the Garmin unit when not towing. If the SD card did get stolen I'd say good luck to them!
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sevenlayermuddle

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Re: Any Nissan car owners
« Reply #2 on: February 17, 2018, 09:23:49 PM »

I don’t have a Nissan, nor any other car new enough to be affected.   But as I see it trouble would be, even if I removed the SD card, and/or even if I had a separate sat nav...

...they’d still break the window and do untold damage, before discovering there was no valuable and nickable SD card inside. :(

Maybe the solution is to remove the card and also leave the car unlocked, maybe with window wide open.   But then of course, you’d be refused insurance payout, so not really recommended. ???
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j0hn

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Re: Any Nissan car owners
« Reply #3 on: February 17, 2018, 10:37:41 PM »

The solution is for manufacturers to stop installing proprietary sat-navs and charging an absolute fortune for an sdcard to update it.

If you don't buy their sdcards you effectively render a huge chunk of your dashboard obsolete. You then need to buy a 2nd Sat-nav to stick on top of the dashboard.

If they charged a small fee for annual updates (or perhaps even free considering how much someone has paid new) then the sdcards wouldn't be as valuable.

As soon as this kind of thing hits the news all the local thieves will be breaking into the nearest Nissan they can find.
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sevenlayermuddle

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Re: Any Nissan car owners
« Reply #4 on: February 17, 2018, 11:59:55 PM »

Manufacturers want to be able to sell mapping updates at a profit.   You can’t blame the car makers for wanting to make money and that business model also keeps down the up front costs of new cars.   They are able to charge a little less for the car, in the hope of more dosh later, for mapping updates.

What they can also do, to avoid the theft and black market of cards, is to ‘lock’ the SD card to the individual vehicle, using conventional software licensing tech.  This allows the car maker to make an honest buck from those willing to pay for updates, but removes all incentive to steal them as they won’t work in another vehicle, even an identical vehicle.

I think some manufacturers already lock the sat nav cards in that way, VW for example?
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j0hn

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Re: Any Nissan car owners
« Reply #5 on: February 18, 2018, 12:19:07 AM »

£113.45 + VAT for the 2016 update for my mum's 2007 Toyota.
I can buy a decent sat-nav with lifetime updates for that.

If I spend £18,000 on a car I don't want extorted annually to keep an integral part of the dashboard updated.

The reason the sd cards are being stolen is because they are ridiculously expensive.
I'm pretty sure Garmin/tom-tom/etc make a profit on their map updates, and they don't charge £100+ for them.

Car manufacturers take advantage because they know you have no choice.
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sevenlayermuddle

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Re: Any Nissan car owners
« Reply #6 on: February 18, 2018, 12:56:57 AM »

You have to look at a modern car as simply an advanced computer on wheels.  Like all computers, the maker hopes to make money from combined sales of hardware and licenses for software, including the sat nav.  It’s not a rip off, just a business model.   :)

It’s a bit like buying a home printer.   The hardware sells more cheaply, in the hope that you will buy more ink cartridges later.   Modern cars, with all their proliferation of tech, and expensive safety items like multiple airbags, are ridiculously cheap, just as printers are ridiculously cheap.    Not surprising there’ll be attempts to claw back cash later.

But regardless of whether they charge £10 or £1000 for sat nav cards, imho the cards need to be licenced to the vehicle.   Else there will always be a theft incentive.   Even if the card is stored elsewhere when the car is parked, or even the user doesn’t care about the sat nav, any attempted theft will result from in expensive damage to the vehicle, and trauma to the owner.
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