Ford's answers to the NHTSA 6.7 Investigation

BenK wrote:
Understand and also hypothesize that RFID's will, too soon, be embedded into OEM
components. Plus all sorts of after market components/systems

That will then be captured into the PROM and read by the vehicle OEM

Of course all encrypted with the OEM the only one with the key(s)

I licensed out the basis for RFID's when was in SunLabs. Smart Chip and was
for the good of mankind (medical cards and ID cards back then)

Then all too soon strain gauges at key, high stress areas.

All of the information is there and now all it will take is to stitch
it all together. Especially now that memory is cheap enough to have
lots and lots...

Consumer fraud has done this and bean counter mentality in all OEMs loves this
potential 'control' over their products.

Feel for Ford, but just a tiny bit...as they are the ones who brought out their
6.0L diesel, so they basically brought it on themselves....as any OEM who produces
an inferior product does to themselves

Back on the Japanese...they dropped bad dealerships like hot potatoes
and dealt fairly with their customers. Detroit lost me on their cars
back in the 70's. Still a Detroit full sized truck guy, but at times
they make it tough...and the fact that the Japanese CEO's and upper
management has not adopted Detroit (American corporate) bean counter
bottom line metrics. The latest Toyota throttle fiasco is telling...

Transmission of data from vehicles on the road via RF is in the discussion stage (OBDIII) and may be a decade in coming.. but it will come.

The data you speak about have been captured for quite sometime (on the 6.0, with the computer upgrade done in 2005 model year) and the data quietly amassed.

My understanding is that they were reluctant to use the data until Legal found a way, and that was done in 2008 model year with yet another software upgrade and the legal notice in the manual.

That is why you never hear from people with a 2008 or later model much anymore bragging about their "undetectable" mod after a warranty denial. They quietly vanish into cyberspace with the bill between their legs and only sing soprano to their (off line) drinking buddies.


Back to the Japanese... they lost a lot of credibility when a certain major manufacturer denied in front of Congress that there is a problem.

Much later, after the dust settled, if you read the fine print of a certain NASA report, it identified tin whiskers as the most likely culprit.

That was after the politician master waved the same report and gave the manufacturer a clean bill of health, with the public happily hoodwinked.

Since you are ex Sun, you will also know about the capacitor caper, where the stolen electrolyte formula failed to do the job, and capacitors leaked and exploded, causing hundreds of millions (industry wide) worth of warranty (and extended courtesy) repairs and replacements of gear all the way up and down the line.

Well before you retired, a certain Texas based large buyer of DRAM solved the price crash problem (around 1996) by demanding a refund of the difference between what they paid (and took delivery of) and current market, causing the supplier who had thought they had a business model invulnerable to market swings to take a deep hit, and in turn, precipitating their exit from the DRAM business. No doubt some purchasing VP got a great bonus, but he ain't no friend of mine!

Said thieving outfit then figured out how to Carly favor and merged itself into nothingness, subsequently being Hurded around until Apocalypse came along briefly, and now it is being driven by a pawn shop dealer.

You may also have come across the Congressional hearings on counterfeit parts last year, with testimony that would make your skin crawl. Yet children still seem to think it is OK to recycle parts or to buy them from "distribution" like eBay, and expect it to work!