Car won't start?
 

It may be your battery or it may be flooded, or....it may be that you didn't make a car payments this month... :)

http://sptimes.com/2005/07/23/Southp...ayment_N.shtml

Lutes, owner of Affordable Auto Sales on 66th Street N in St. Petersburg, thinks he has found a solution. It's a device he installs on every car he sells that alerts drivers when they have a payment due. Day by delinquent day, the alert gets increasingly insistent. On the fifth day, the car won't start.

Three years later, On Time was born. Simon said 1,500 dealers across the country use the little devices, even some traditional new-car dealers. Both Simon and Lutes think Affordable Auto Sales is the only dealership using On Time in the Tampa Bay area.

The little black box with a four-button keypad is mounted under the dash and connected to the car's electrical harness. Once the dealer and the customer have agreed on a payment schedule - and Lutes insists on weekly payments - the schedule is loaded into a Windows-based computer program in the dealer's office.

As long as payments are made on time, the light on the module shows green. On the first day a payment is delinquent, the light blinks red for 24 hours. On day two it flashes in pulses of two. On day three, there are three pulses in quick succession. On day four it beeps all day long. On day five, the car stops working.

As soon as a payment is made, the customer is given a code to punch into the module that returns it to green until the next payment comes due. Once the car is paid for, the module is removed and used on another vehicle. They have seven-year life spans.

seems like it wouldn't be that hard to just cut out the module and re-wire the ignition?

lol, pretty cool idea.

now just wait in a few months there will be some programs you can download on IRC to 'crack' the code and generate keys to get the cars working.

...or a talented hacker could wreak havoc w/some poor souls.

its basically just like an ignition interlock, i have seen them used on cars around here. works just like whats used for people with dui's that have to blow in the tube before they can start their car. also just like the starter kill on an aftermarket alarm. very easy to bypass if you are comfortable under the dash of your car. if you are not, then it is the scariest thing in the world to mess with.