Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Chrysler gets sued for lousy security

Three weeks back we saw that late model Jeep Cherokee autos could be hacked remotely.  The shoe that we've been waiting to drop, has dropped:
LAST MONTH’S JEEP hacking scandal has already been followed by a 1.4 million vehicle recall and a well-timed Senate bill. Now Chrysler faces that other inevitable punishment: a potentially massive lawsuit.
On Tuesday three Jeep Cherokee owners filed a complaint against both Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Harman International, the maker of the Uconnect dashboard computer in millions of Chrysler vehicles. A security flaw in that cellular-connected computer served as the entry point for security researchers Chris Valasek and Charlie Miller when they showed WIRED last month that they could wirelessly hack into a 2014 Jeep over the internet to hijack its steering, brakes and transmission. Now the small group of plaintiffs is hoping to invite anyone with those vulnerable Uconnect systems in their car or truck to join them in their litigation. If their complaint is certified by a court as a class action, the broad spectrum of affected Chrysler vehicles means it could snowball into a case with more than a million potential plaintiffs.
What damages are assessed when it's no longer possible to have confidence in the security and integrity of your car?  What are the damages if you always wonder if you're about to die when you start it up?

2 comments:

Old NFO said...

Lawyers... Sigh...

Knucklehead said...

Don't get me wrong, Fiat-Chrysler were stupid and deserve to suffer the expense of a massive recall over this, but doesn't there need to be some harm done to become a plaintiff in a lawsuit? Were their cars hacked?