All About Japan Autos

Imagine zipping down the freeway when suddenly, your car tells you it’s lost all tire pressure. Do you believe it? Maybe you shouldn’t.

“Another group of researchers from Rutgers University and the University of South Carolina have just discovered that you can hack into a car’s electronics wirelessly, which means any modern vehicle could be vulnerable to an attack at any time, even while it’s being driven down the road,” reports Autoblog.

To access the car’s computers, the team used the tire pressure monitoring system. Those systems have been required in new cars since 2008, and wirelessly transmit their data to the car’s onboard computer. Once the researchers figured out the tire pressure monitoring system’s signals, they transmitted their information to the car’s computers. Earlier this year, researchers showed that it’s possible to hack a car computer using wired connections; this is the first case of anyone hacking a car’s computer wirelessly.

“The team sent fake warning messages from 40 meters away, and in another experiment, got the test car to flash a warning that a tire had lost all pressure while beaming the signal from another car as both drove 68 mph,” writes Jalopnik.

While the results are unnerving, you should still believe all warnings your car gives you. As ARS Technica points out, “these attacks are more of a nuisance than any real danger; the tire sensors only send a message every 60-90 seconds, giving attackers little opportunity to compromise systems or cause any real damage. Nonetheless, both pieces of research demonstrate that these in-car computers have been designed with ineffective security measures.”

If you’re in the market for a new car, check out the U.S. News rankings of this year’s best cars as well as this month’s best car deals.