Did My Renault Get Zapped by The Big Solar Storm?

GordonD on 14/05/2024 - 04:06
Last edited 14/05/2024 - 11:06 by 1 other user

Its 1am. I'm woken by a series of clunks from the back yard.

I go out and check and can find nothing. Then I check to see if someone had been interfering with the car. And its locked.

I NEVER lock my car when I leave it in the yard. I get out, take the key, and leave it in the kitchen. And I know I went and got some things from the car after I did that. But the clunks were exactly like I get when I press the immobiliser button on the key when it unlocks and locks the doors. That's worrying. Has someone cloned the signal from my car key.

Then it occurs to me … the big solar storm. We're told it is unprecedent in our lifetime and could affect electrical, electronic and communications systems by inducing stray signals in cables.

After all it was something like that caused two Qantas flights to go out of control and nearly crash in WA years ago. The official report said it was stray signals, like could be caused by passing through the beam of a very very powerful radio transmitter, induced in the cable connecting the angle of attack sensors to the fly-by-wire flight computer. The recommendation was for the software to be changed to reject obviously bad data. The report insisted that it must have been just a coincidence that the problem had never occurred anywhere else at any time, only twice when those two planes would have been passing through the beam from the very very powerful US/Australian military submarine communications facility located right there, because the US said it wasn't transmitting at the times. And we believe what they officially tell us is officially true.

It seems ridiculously improbable that the big solar storm induced just the right signal in just the right wire connected to my 20-year old Renault's ECU that made it think it was getting the lock/unlock signal from my key. But it is almost technically plausible. And what else could have done it?

Automotive

Comments

  • JIMB0 on 14/05/2024 - 05:19
    +39

    I'd say it's more likely to be caused by the fact it's a 20-year old Renault.

    • El cheepo on 14/05/2024 - 07:43
      +10

      Gasps in french automotive horror

    • pegaxs on 14/05/2024 - 09:36
      +3

      A French car doing French car electrical things?

      I would have thought the rubbing of jeans across the cheap, tacky vinyl interior would have been enough static to upset a Renault’s delicate electrical ecosystem, let alone some colourful lights in the sky…

    • GordonD on 16/05/2024 - 10:00

      It was Jonathon Creek who said "you are making the mistake of picking what's likely over what's logical". That was why he could solve the problems he could.

      And, well, what was just a weird fault in the electrics of an old car wouldn't be interesting enough to be a discussion topic would it?

  • Gunnar on 14/05/2024 - 05:37
    +33

    The effects of the solar storm? At this time of year, at this time of day, in this part of the country, localized entirely to your 20yo Renault!?

    • BillyStm on 14/05/2024 - 06:26

      Aluminum foil stored in his cupboard just happened to be angled at 38.674231 degrees latitude at that very moment as well…

    • xuqi on 14/05/2024 - 15:00
      +1

      "But it is almost technically plausible."

  • solidussnake on 14/05/2024 - 06:48
    +4

    Isnt this how one of the Transformers Movie starts.

    • mapax on 14/05/2024 - 07:11
      +3

      Damn, imagine being an alien that travels to earth. When you arrive you pass a sweet 1950s pickup, pass a modded 1970s Land Cruiser, pass a G-wagen, and even pass a Suzuki Jimny… Then end up as a 20yo Renault…

      • dtc on 14/05/2024 - 09:12

        That alien is obviously a flipper species. After all, comes to earth and buys a reno…

  • altomic on 14/05/2024 - 07:14

    Obviously Skynet sent back a T1000 which unfortunately materalized too close to your vehicle…

  • holdenmg on 14/05/2024 - 07:25

    Super Cheap Auto are all out of flux capacitors…

  • pegaxs on 14/05/2024 - 09:33
    +3

    Have you thought about buying a slightly looser fitting tin foil hat?

    Has someone cloned the signal from my car key.

    Hahaha… (fropanity) no, they haven’t. The Flipper Zero they would use to clone it would be worth more than the car. No one clones a Renault to steal. A: nowhere to fence it, Even criminals have standards, B: joy riding is out of the question, as they can’t even be sure it would last to the end of your street.

    • pharkurnell on 14/05/2024 - 13:40
      +1

      Have you thought about buying a slightly looser fitting tin foil hat?

      GOLD!!!!!!!!!

  • AngoraFish on 14/05/2024 - 09:38

    There are over 20 million vehicles in Australia. There is a high statistical probability that at least one of them will have weird shit happen to it at the same time that other weird shit is also happening.

    • pegaxs on 14/05/2024 - 09:43

      Are you trying to say that correlation may not be causeation?

      • GordonD on 14/05/2024 - 10:01

        The air incident report that insisted it was just a coincidence that that Qantas plane's flight computer got bad corrupted data from the AoA in the area of the Exmouth submarine communication station's b-i-g transmitter, when that had never occurred anywhere else in the world at any time, was shot down by it later happening to another Qantas plane in the same area. Correlation may not be causation, unless there's a plausible explanation, or it keeps happening.

  • GordonD on 14/05/2024 - 09:39
    -1

    Seeing an ABC news item on the subject, I emailed an academic at RMIT the ABC considered enough of an expert that they had quoted him in the article.

    His response was that not only was it possible, but that he had had some problems with the electrics on his oldish car during the solar storm that had appeared to somehow subsequently resolve themselves, and it hadn't occurred to him that that might have been the cause.

    So up yours OzBargain "experts". Whatever you are actually experts at, you also need to understand and accept what you aren't.

    • Drakesy on 14/05/2024 - 10:31
      +2

      His response was that not only was it possible, but that he had had some problems with the electrics on his oldish car during the solar storm that had appeared to somehow subsequently resolve themselves,

      So did they resolve themslves?
      Sure anything is possible if an electromagnetic pulse strong enough hits a solenoid or electrical component to knock it out.

      But my money is on it being a 20 year old Renault and its crappy electrics. My Audi used to have Phantom lock/unlocks all the time. So happy to see the back of that PoS.

    • RockyRaccoon on 14/05/2024 - 16:28
      +1

      Being an academic he also probably had a 20 Year Renault

      • pegaxs on 15/05/2024 - 22:43
        +1

        I wouldn’t take the word of an “acedemic” any more than I would a YouTube “engineer”.

        Those that can, do. Those that can’t… teach.

    • brendanm on 14/05/2024 - 18:12
      +2

      I'll take "things that didn't happen" for $500.

  • jv on 14/05/2024 - 10:05

    We're told it is unprecedent in our lifetime

    Not true unless you are under 11 years old.

    • GordonD on 14/05/2024 - 10:12

      The active and quiet periods of the sun are a periodic cycle. What I understood was unprecedented was a large coronal ejection at the peak of the active phase that was directly in the direction of the earth. That's unlikely in a human lifetime.

  • Keplaffintech on 14/05/2024 - 10:14

    It seems ridiculously improbable that the big solar storm induced just the right signal in just the right wire connected to my 20-year old Renault's ECU that made it think it was getting the lock/unlock signal from my key. But it is almost technically plausible.

    Can you explain how it's technically plausible? If you don't understand how circuits (or solar storms) work, you can't really state that it's technically plausible right?

    • GordonD on 14/05/2024 - 10:26
      -3

      I won't try to explain something I have never needed to fully understand, just be aware of.

      But let me quote what the real expert said in his email to me:
      "The storms themselves don't emit any radio signals, so it isn't likely that that's the way our cars might have been impacted… although, the storms create electrical currents in the upper atmosphere (about 100 kms up), and these changing suddenly can induce currents in conductors on the ground… this happens most strongly with large-scale conductors, e.g., power grids and pipelines, but technically, smaller-scale induced currents are certainly possible."

  • payless69 on 14/05/2024 - 10:47
    +1

    Most likely a drive by with a small shark device.
    They query your cars security system and see if it would crack the ancient code.
    If you leave your keys near your front door they probably have a copy by now.
    Then again, who on earth would steal a 20 year old car anyway.

    • GordonD on 14/05/2024 - 10:53

      As I said, something like that was the first thing that occurred to me. But I dismissed it because its just an immobiliser. The key doesn't listen, it just sends a code when you press the button. And the car doesn't answer, it just unlocks or locks when it gets the right code.

      • payless69 on 14/05/2024 - 13:09

        If it is that thick card remote, their codes had been cracked ages ago.

    • mapax on 14/05/2024 - 12:01
      +1

      Most likely a drive by

      Don’t you mean ride by on electric bicycles that do >40km/h so that they can cut through parks and reserves where the police can’t easily follow?

  • brandt on 14/05/2024 - 10:56
    +2

    Lock your car or insurance wont pay up if it gets stolen.

  • xuqi on 14/05/2024 - 15:09
    +1

    "Has someone cloned the signal from my car key."

    Who in their right mind goes to the trouble of cloning a 20+ years old French car remote?

    More likely explanation is being 1am and asleep, your brain may have translated whatever sound your ears heard with something more familiar to it.

    • Gunnar on 14/05/2024 - 16:53

      If we are talking a Clio V6 then yeah you probably would have someone who would go to lengths to steal it.

      I somehow doubt the OP has a Clio V6 though, probably a Scenic kinda guy

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