Drive a Dodge, Jeep, Chrysler or Ram? It may be recalled due to potentially deadly hacks
When it comes to cars, I only consider American manufacturers. Every car I've ever owned has been a Ford, but I am open to GM and Fiat Chrysler vehicles like Chevrolet, Jeep, Dodge and Ram. Lately, I fell in love with the Jeep Renegade -- an Italian-made American SUV -- which was tempting me from Ford.
Due to the reported security deficiencies in Jeep vehicles -- potentially deadly hacks -- I immediately came to my senses. No such vehicles in my future. While the Renegade is not impacted, the brand is, at least for now, tarnished for me. Today, Fiat Chrysler is voluntarily recalling the vehicles that are prey for hackers -- Dodge, Jeep, Chrysler and Ram are all on the list.
"FCA US LLC is conducting a voluntary safety recall to update software in approximately 1,400,000 U.S. vehicles equipped with certain radios.The recall aligns with an ongoing software distribution that insulates connected vehicles from remote manipulation, which, if unauthorized, constitutes criminal action", says Fiat Chrysler.
The car conglomerate further says it has "applied network-level security measures to prevent the type of remote manipulation demonstrated in a recent media report. These measures -- which required no customer or dealer actions -- block remote access to certain vehicle systems and were fully tested and implemented within the cellular network on July 23, 2015".
So, which vehicles are being recalled? Below is the complete list.
- 2013-2015 MY Dodge Viper specialty vehicles
- 2013-2015 Ram 1500, 2500 and 3500 pickups
- 2013-2015 Ram 3500, 4500, 5500 Chassis Cabs
- 2014-2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Cherokee SUVs
- 2014-2015 Dodge Durango SUVs
- 2015 MY Chrysler 200, Chrysler 300 and Dodge Charger sedans
- 2015 Dodge Challenger sports coupes
This hack should not be taken lightly -- bad guys can remotely hijack a vehicle and cause it to crash. This can literally lead to death.
While this hack has apparently not been abused outside of some proof-of-success demonstrations, the company is smart to act swiftly -- I can foresee people blaming hacks on all of their accidents and speeding tickets. Quite frankly, telling an officer "the car started speeding on its own" could be a legitimate argument on an unpatched vehicle.
So how will the recall work? It is actually very cool. Rather than go to the dealer, Chrysler will mail you a USB flash drive that contains a firmware update. Hopefully it is easy for the non-technologically advanced owners. There is no word on whether the firmware will be hosted online so users can create their own drives, but I suspect someone will dump and share it eventually.
Are you scared that hackers may hijack your vehicle? Enter your VIN number here to find out if you are affected.
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