Some mobile phone carriers have been limiting or slowing consumers cell phone data despite them having unlimited data plans. Consumer Watchdog President Jamie Court says consumers have to make an informed decision before signing off on a plan and to know where the throttling limit is or go to another carrier.

Car suppliers – like Harman International – and major automakers are spending more than they ever have on securing vehicles. But a Consumer Watchdog study says safety concerns related to connected cars are only increasing. Others in the auto industry say those fears may be overblown.

United States Senators Ed Markey and Richard Blumenthal have written to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to ask if carmakers have reported the cybersecurity vulnerabilities in their Internet-connected cars and what steps NHTSA is taking to address the problem.

The senators called for the answers from the America’s top car safety regulator in response to Consumer Watchdog’s recent report, “Kill Switch: How Connected Cars Can Be Killing Machines and How to Turn Them Off.” The report, prepared with the help of car industry technologists, found that all the top 2020 cars have Internet connections to safety critical systems that leave them vulnerable to fleet wide hacks. 

Consumer Watchdog has issued a report, with the help of car industry technologists, that finds all the top 2020 cars have Internet connections to safety critical systems that leave them vulnerable to fleet wide hacks. 

The group and experts warn that a fleet wide hack at rush-hour could result in a 9-11 scale catastrophe with approximately 3,000 deaths.  

The report, “Kill Switch: Why Connected Cars Can Be Killing Machines And How To Turn Them Off,” reveals that automakers have disclosed the high risk of such hacks to their investors, but are keeping the public in the dark as they market new features based on Internet connections. For example, Ford disclosed to the Securities Exchange Commission in its 10K filing that the company and its suppliers have been the subject of a malicious hack, but the public is blind to the facts.