“You thought you’d get away with this. I am in your car. I am in your maps,” he shouted at her, according to the police records.
Over the coming days, Stacey found that the parental control profile, to which she had no access, could almost entirely control the car, including its speed, climate control, lock and curfew hours, determining when the car could be driven.
Between 6 and 12 November 2025, Pucci remotely alternated the car’s temperature setting between extremely cold and extremely hot.
“The victim has not been able to drive certain speeds and on most recent occasions throughout this period, [the accused] has turned on ‘Valet Mode’ which immediately reduces the speed to 40km per hour causing significant safety issues for the victim on the road”, the police documents stated.
“The victim has not had any control of her vehicle since she noticed the parental control profile added on the 1st November 2025.
Smart devices are for dumb people.
And here I was mad that I could only find Android Auto head units when the radio in my 15 year old car died.
This sounds like a nightmare.
BTW pioneer does good generic non smart radios
Parental controls? On a car? Are you fucking kidding?
Serves her right for buying a Tesla IG.
As someone who changes oil for a living, I can confirm it’s in more than just Teslas.
We need a “right to be treated as an adult” affirmed by Congress that prohibits use of parental controls against users who can demonstrate adulthood by presentation of ID
Oh hooray another mandatory ID checkpoint! Don’t resist, it’s only for your safety and convenience, no other reasons!
/s
I’m not saying you should be required to show it; just that if you can, and do, they should be barred from applying juvenile controls to the account held by you, an adult.
Who is “they” in this scenario? Because the person who applied the controls in this story was the account holder.
Yes; he applied parental controls from his account to her account by misrepresenting to Tesla that she was a juvenile driving his car
No /s needed mate. A car checking ID is laughable.
Why wouldn’t your management account for a car need to know whether you’re a licensed driver?
Because it’s neither the cops nor fucking human??
Why would it be legal for you to drive a car without a license
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Why should an App be even allowed to judge over legality?!
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In cases of emergency (life threatening injuries, or to escape life threatening situations) you are allowed to drive whatever if you have to.
An app should be allowed to manage the legal exposure of permitting you to use it to do something illegal, if we’re going to permit apps to be sued because they didn’t stop someone from doing something illegal.
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Remember kids, if you give full control of you car to someone else you will have a bad time.
Remember, Tesla added this feature after widespread demand for parental controls on use following an incident in which a teenager killed themselves by driving too fast. People asked why they couldn’t override the car with parental controls if that feature was a technical possibility and there was even talk of using legal force to make them do it if they didn’t voluntarily comply.
Tesla requiring proof that the limited account belonged to a minor was not going to be permitted. Parents did this to us.
I doubt it was parents. It was probably the same people that run all the parents rights groups: fundamental Christian extremists.
It literally was the parents
“Valet mode” also exists because valets were joyriding people’s Teslas
this is how so many marriages end with abusers.
but ok…i guess we just blame the victims for abusers who own the ultimate choice over their own behaviour
You’re right, it’s better to pretend abusers don’t exists and don’t take any precautions. Leave our door open, use single password for everything and carry wallets in our back pockets. When something bad happens we’ll just blame the criminal and everything will be fixed.
wow ok i get it. you hate victims. you know who else hates their victims? abusers. you talk like an abuser there with how much you hate victims.
I’ve seen dozens of cautionary tales written by abused women, telling others how abusers operate, what to look out for and what to do to stay safe. I guess all those women hate victims too.
wow so you cant see the difference there either. you abusers sure all love telling on yourselves.
I see prejudice, that’s enough.
I see so if your parents get scammed for every last penny leaving you no inheritance because they were too embarrassed and felt a bottomless pit of shame and humiliation to come forward about scam artists because no one can be vulnerable around you because you blame them for any misfortune. They can’t turn to you just for some strength or advice to do next steps for disaster management because disasters, challenges and growth aren’t permitted in your world.
And let me guess: everyone in the world ‘annoys’ you.
Wonderful relationship and empathy material of a typical npd.
Remember kids, if you give full control of you car to someone else you will have a bad time.
This isn’t advice, it’s victim blaming. It’s Pucci’s fault that he took control of her car and terrorized her.
Yes, I know, woman would have to say it to for it o be an advice. If a man says it it’s victim blaming.
It has nothing to do with gender and everything with you literally blaming the victim instead of the abuser.
What the hell? Why hasn’t she changed her password yet?
Aha, the article explains:
After having trouble navigating the technology, Stacey was offered help from Pucci, who said he would need the car to be registered in his name so “he could take control of the Tesla app to ‘assist her’”.
the scammers playbook
And this is why both my cars are 40 years old.
Trade in the f’n neo-Nazi vehicle! There are plenty of better EV’s on the market.
This is why I like my old Jeep. It’s manual. It’s got great “security”. I always say it’s got an alarm system; because any small time thief would yell out of frustration. When I travel, I pull out the clutch pedal and take fuel relay out and unplug the battery and leave it in 4lo lol. Oh yeah and you have to unplug the clutch pedal fuse for it to start. If the battery has been unplugged, then you got remap the ECU which takes like a half hour of my shovel wedged against the gas pedal unless you want the engine stalling out every time you take your foot of the pedal. It’s also one of the rare colors, as in only 2000 made with dicks, I’m very childish, carved in hard to see spots to make it a nightmare for part thieves. So if you steal it, pretty much with a tow truck, it’s like putting a bullseye on yourself.
The point was, there’s no controlling that. I don’t like all the new tech put into cars.
Sorry, what’s 4lo?
Its like j-lo, but for jeeps.
I’ve no idea what a j-lo is either. Never heard of it.
Jennifer Lopez,
4x4 vehicles can be put in 4hi or 4lo. 4lo is slow as hell.
Awesome. Love the tactics. :)
Hahah thanks!
I’m sure there’s some online fora and FB groups for absolute psychofuck narcissists who will go to great lengths to terrorize their supposed partners and children, and exchange awful ideas on how to keep them on a leash, and this includes the above takeover of a fucking Tesla.
I hate Tesla, but, this is quite clearly the fault of the abusive partner, NOT Tesla, which is why the partner is in deep shit
It’s not like it was open access for everyone in public to change those settings, and those features clearly weren’t intended for that purpose.
If he wasn’t controlling her car, it likely would have been different abuse (gps tracker on the car). Unfortunately, we have more s**theads here in Australia than most other countries. And, most of the time it’s thanks to Murdoch media and facebook making people feel unhappy, play victim, etc.
Hopefully, the new laws against facebook get introduced, and it stops a lot of the ragebait that have made people like this worse.
And yes, I dated someone whose ex-partner basically stalked her, until we realised
I reckon there’s enough blame to go around for everyone in this case.
Imma be real chief, if my car can be controlled by anyone but the driver, it’s an unnaceptable product. I even disagree with parental controls - if someone isn’t mature enough to drive without their parents, they don’t get their license.
I hate to break it to you, but pretty much all modern cars have this level of remote controls - even if they’re not exposed to owners.
https://www.wired.com/2015/07/hackers-remotely-kill-jeep-highway/
Sounds like you’re blaming Elon, not the person doing the abuse. Technically, the driver ONLY had access. The problem was, she was conned by the abuser into giving him access too.
You’re trying to phrase it in a way that is bullshit honestly… Like handing over your computer credentials and then whining “only the user should be able to access the system”. Yeah, the user did… Until you gave them access.
The level of the control they had remotely was limited. They weren’t turning the wheel. And even the claim that slowing the car down to lower speeds is causing safety issues honestly, is a fairly sketchy one…
Yes, I hate Elon too… But, sounds like you’re more upset at Elon, than the abusive asshole… This is ENTIRELY the abusive assholes fault.
You don’t need to buy a car with connectivity, but that won’t stop abusive shitheads from messing with your car (i’ve been threatened 3-4x seriously in my life). Trust me
And even the claim that slowing the car down to lower speeds is causing safety issues honestly, is a fairly sketchy one…
They had knowledge of the car’s position, and could turn on valet mode which limits speed to 40kmhr.
So you’re on a busy Australian motorway doing 110km/hr in the middle lane. Your ex sees that and turns on valet mode. That’s a quick way to get rear ended by an inattentive driver of a car or truck behind you. At the very least, you’ll cause significant chaos as you try and get over to the side of the road.
I don’t have a tesla, but It’s not likely going to slam the brakes, and valet mode will likely be shown to the driver so they know its enabled (Tesla likely thought of that). Furthermore, it IS a protected function. It’s not like its exposed, and not a normal situation where someone abuses it. But, it is a good point
Again though, I have experience with highly abusive people.
Someone who ended up LITERALLY decapitated threatened me, and told me ex “he knows where I live”. I had someone swerve at me when driving, and it turned out to be an ex of the girl I was dating. And, I’ve been given the “don’t XXX or else…” talk too by 2 people (one in my own home, and he seemed proud of himself until I managed to get the parties kicked out). When I was swerved at, I thought it was someone on their phone, I just happened to show the woman. I still wonder if one day I found a fence post nailed to the tree outside was one of them
These abusers DO NOT GIVE A SHIT IF YOU’RE DRIVING A TESLA, THEY WILL FIND ANOTHER WAY TO ABUSE PEOPLE, to terrorise them, and try to make their lives miserable!!! The full extent of this abusers efforts may not actually be known (they were likely only busted for 1 or 2 things).
There already is a lot of protection on these functions. Removing one, will just cause them to use another.
Trust me… When we removed Find my phone access from these people, we BELIEVE he possibly put a GPS tracker on her car instead, as he messaged still at weird times when she was clearly with me. These guys will always find ways to abuse others, through every possibility.
My argument is that when it involves a car, it should be impossible for someone not in the car to control the car.
Yes it’s bad if the abuser forces himself into her car and is physically restraining her from controlling the speed, ie gas pedal/brakes. If done remotely, they may as well have physically hijacked the car.
I’m saying it’s an unacceptable product bc its even more dangerous than a car that can only be hijacked physically. I’m arguing risk and liability, not however about abuse and morality.
OH no, he can control the heater remotely. She might freeze to death!!!
He can’t control her speed. Just limit it, brakes still work fully. Acceleration is just limited. You keep wording things in a way that suggest you didn’t even read the article.
My aftermarket alarm on my jeep can do a lot of this stuff including STOP the engine. My computer lets me control it remotely too
Go off queen
More abuse…
Still completely overlooking the abuser… Just apparently using this as an excuse to attack people (in this case, Elon, and now me)…
Again, even if the car couldn’t be controlled by mobile, similar things would have happened still… Again, I’ve been threatened at least 3x in real life (one was a serious threat. The guy ended up getting decapitated actually, which indicates the kind of person they were). The most they could do was limit speed, and its clear that Valet mode wasn’t designed for that purpose. They can’t press the accelerator, move the wheel, etc (as you keep implying)
And yes, those same people always needed to assert authority in every statement too…
Also, “imma be real too”…
You would call me “chief” on your first interaction in real life, and it makes it sound like, you’re one of those people who are likely abusive in real life (but try to justify it). Which is why you don’t seem to care at all that this is a case of abuse
if someone isn’t mature enough to drive without their parents, they don’t get their license.
Yeah that about sums it up. This really doesn’t need to be a feature on any vehicle. I only see options where it can go wrong.
I could maybe see it being useful for maybe a combat vehicle, but even then it should be a wired connection IE the Goliath tracked mine. Mostly cause I can imagine a scenario wherein you may want to have a recovery vehicle to go get something or someone but may not want to risk losing additional people to do it.
But yeah broadly outside of some niche uses a remote controlled vehicle is just asking for problems.
I’m very much not a fan of all the tech in new vehicles
It’s over engineering and overpricing disguised as luxury. But I will admit I’d be perfectly happy with a Yugo or 1991 Fiat Polski, so I’m a tad bit biased against modern cars on that front. For example I’m currently fighting the carb on a 1984 Honda ct110, it’s being a bitch and stalling.
If you drive a swasticar, maybe don’t expect any privacy or ownership. That’s not how Nazi’s work.
Its not just these cars and not a new thing.
https://fractionalciso.ca/the-groundbreaking-2015-jeep-hack-changed-automotive-cybersecurity/
The fact these controls exist at all is a fucking nightmare. How are these vehicles legally sold? This technology should illegal I’m vehicles.
The car hacking scene is growing in response. More and more, it’s becoming possible to disable/circumvent these remote capabilities. Not that the car makers are making it easy.
I hate to break it to you, but most modern cars have this level of remote controls - they’re just not exposed to owners.
https://www.wired.com/2015/07/hackers-remotely-kill-jeep-highway/
I honestly don’t know, they’re death traps
To paraphrase Strong Bad: “Your [car] has too much computer in it…and not enough typewriter.”
I love seeing strong bad references in the wild!
Virus equals very yes? Computer over?! What does that mean?!
Really, we should have heeded his warnings.
I did say “if you fall in a bottomless pit, you die of starvation” out loud today and no one got it
This is why we reset our vehicles when an employee leaves. Probably should do the same when you have a messy breakup.
With Tesla you can’t really do that, whatever account is registered as the owner (she transferred the ownership from her account to his) is the only one that can add and remove others to access the car via the app. The only other way is to show Tesla you are the actual owner of the car and then they can switch it back to your account. Fuckong nightmare.
Wow fuck Tesla, atleast with Ford it’s just an in vehicle option in settings to reset
There is another way: don’t own a Tesla.
Having owned a Tesla for 3 years, I can’t find the words to express how fucking right your statement is. Those things are the definition of the phrase “expensive, underwhelming and frustrating garbage”.
There’s only so much bullshit I’d put up with for that admittedly crazy acceleration (drove a friend’s once and they can go). From the privacy angle alone, I see them as basically ring doorbell cameras on wheels (though wonder if I should instead consider them like flock cameras on wheels). For safety, they can require having the presence of mind (and physical capability, which could be impossible if an accident occurred) to remove a door panel to access the mechanical door latch while the car is on fire. Build quality sucks. They are pretty much a poster child for overpromise underdeliver.
And that’s not even touching who benefits from Tesla doing well.
My significant others just got a bunch of ford app notifications for a vehicle at a job he left 6 months ago. Not everyone takes these things seriously. I had no idea he even still had the app on his phone lol.
Lots of folks going to ignore the part where she handed over root access.
This is a crime and tuck this guy. But it ain’t a Tesla issue.
Tesla shouldn’t allow settings to be changed like this remotely regardless of parental controls or remote access. It’s not safe. Case and point:
So do you want to own your car or do you want Tesla to decide what settings you can change and when? Make up your mind, lemmy!
