Motor Trend

Christian Seabaugh, Associate Online Editor July 25, 2013 

Like it or not, more and more computers are making their way into our cars. Depending on what car you drive, a computer could control everything from your infotainment system, your throttle, and even your steering. An alarmist new Forbes story shows what could happen if someone hacked into your car and took control while you were driving. 

The video starts off with a noble purpose: to show that with cars increasingly reliant on computers, they become more vulnerable to hackers (we assume Forbes means 4ChanAnonymous, and North Korea). In this case, the two hackers, Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek, are most certainly not North Korea. They’re two middle-aged web security engineers who have modified a 2010 Ford Escape and 2010 Toyota Prius to be hackable, with the help of a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) grant that has a goal of rooting out security vulnerabilities in modern cars.

The duo has torn apart the dashboard of their project Prius and Escape, and plugged their laptop into the OBD-II port. From there, as the video demonstrates, they can control anything from the seatbelts, to the horn, to even the car’s brakes and steering.

Though the tone is a bit inflammatory (the apparent purpose of the Forbes story and accompanying video is to “pressure car companies to secure their products…to show exactly what can be done with a multi-ton missile on wheels”), the video is nonetheless interesting, worth a watch, and dare-I-say — funny.

For those worried that they may be driving a “multi-ton missile on wheels,” relax. Though some scientists claim to have hacked into cars wirelessly, the only way to really get into your car’s ECU is by plugging directly in to your car. For those still scared, buy a classic. We hear those are hack-proof.