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How one woman’s Tesla was remotely controlled – and used to harass her – by an abusive ex-partner (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 6 days ago by FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
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“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.

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[-] Mongostein@lemmy.ca 13 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Please explain how remotely limiting the speed of a vehicle is useful and not dangerous.

The only “parental controls” you need are the keys.

[-] minfapper@piefed.social 3 points 6 days ago

that feature is called "Valet mode". It's specifically to stop valets going joy-riding on your $150k car that was faster than most Ferraris back when that feature got added.

[-] Mongostein@lemmy.ca 2 points 5 days ago

Sweet. So why does it need to be done remotely? Why not a passcode?

[-] minfapper@piefed.social 2 points 5 days ago

It offers both. But if you do it remotely from the owner's phone, it doesn't require the passcode. Presumably in case you forget the passcode you set in the car.

And once you build the functionality to turn it off remotely, you may as well allow turning it on as well. For example, if you realize you forgot to enable valet mode shortly after handing over the keys, you can still do so.

this post was submitted on 17 Sep 2026
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