No,Not Car Jack! I said Car Hack!
Hang with me on this one folks. There is a hack in here, but it’s buried inside my rant at a major auto company.
I recently took my Chevrolet Silverado in for an oil change.
The little green message was coming on my dash every time I started the engine, “Change your oil.” So, I figure, whatever, when I get around to it I’ll take it in.
I dropped it off about 7 a.m. at a shop downtown and walked the rest of the way to my office. By the time I finished up and walk back it’s pushing 6 p.m. The manager, who looked to be all of 12 years old, hands me my keys, I grumble a thanks, hop in and dead head home.
The next morning I’m off to work and what do I see winking at me from the dash? Why it’s my little green buddy the oil change reminder. I grit my teeth, throw it in drive and head off to work.
Around 9 a.m. I get a chance to slug down some coffee and call up the garage. The conversation went a little like this.
Me, “Grrr ….mumble… gripe.. oil… not changed… light on… crooked…me..no like”
Him, “Oh no sir! I’m certain it was done. I saw to it my self! It’s those oil change notices. They don’t clear automatically. Would you like to bring it over and we’ll clear it for you? It’s a little technical.”
Me, “Errr.. um… reset…yeah.. I knew that… how is it you do that again?”
At this point he proceeded to explain that I should place the key in the ignition, turn it to the on position but not engage the starter then tap the accelerator three times in rapid succession.
So, I asked him, “Dude, are you screwing with me? We’re not doing cheat codes on an Atari here.”
He quickly replied, “No, sir! I’m completely serious. You just follow those steps and the monitor will reset….Sir?…What’s an Atari?”
Rather than explaining how ancient I am, I mumbled something to indicate we must have a bad connection and hung up.
After work I made sure no one was looking, just in case, and I gave his spell casting gestures a shot. Don’t you know it worked?
When was General Motors taken over by engineers who think in patterns of video game strategy?
Reg Adkins writes on behavior and the human experience at (elementaltruths.blogspot.com).
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Comments
Kuz says on October 20th, 2006 at 9:34 am
Also, if you put the gear shift in neutral, then shift up, up, down, down left, right, left, right, push the cigarette lighter, then the hazard light button, then start the ignition, you’ll get unlimited lives.
Guy says on October 20th, 2006 at 9:56 am
Why is that strange? You have only limited controls available to you when you’re sitting in the driver’s seat, but they all go into the central computer governing your car.
Dave says on October 20th, 2006 at 10:29 am
Our Dodge Caravan flashed all the lights when the doors were unlocked… I hated it! Checked the owners manual and sure enough: key to on position, press brake pedal, press odometer reset button and hold longer than 3 seconds until the indicator light flashes. Boom, no more flashing lights!
Alternatively you can hold the button for different periods to get different flashing light patterns.
Acer says on October 20th, 2006 at 12:11 pm
Agreed, I was fishing through my manual and there’s dozens of “cheat codes” for stuff from, daytime running light, settings, to turning off the dome light flashing, to the beep when you remotely lock the vehicle, to radio settings, to name a few.
Mark says on October 20th, 2006 at 5:30 pm
Life is so much easier with my car. Just navigate the LCD screen to Maintenance, find the reminder you want to reset, and reset it! By the way, some of those ‘cheat code’ moves also allow your car to be started with out checking for the chip embedded in your key.
Kevin Bowman says on October 24th, 2006 at 10:35 am
Quote:
“By the way, some of those ‘cheat code’ moves also allow your car to be started with out checking for the chip embedded in your key.”
Uh … no they won’t. There are pretty tight controls on that sort of thing where I work (in embedded software at a major auto parts supplier). But there is an ignition switch/door lock combination that will re-program your keyless entry fob. And you wouldn’t believe the things you can do with your audio system by pressing various combinations of buttons on your radio.
It’s kind of ironic that a vehicle with an “info center” that has navigable menus has less complicated software than one with just “idiot lights” – a lot of code goes into detecting those diagnostic “cheat codes”.
Reg Adkins says on October 24th, 2006 at 11:48 am
Kevin,
How about some scoop on those hacks with the audio system? Feed the need!
Ben Loyd says on December 22nd, 2006 at 10:00 pm
Kevin,
Any codes for changing fuel efficieny
levels??:)))
Johhny says on December 1st, 2007 at 12:03 am
To change Fuel Efficiency Levels, just adjust the pressure applied to the gas pedal. :)