Exactly. So how many vulnerable cars are on the roads of the world right now because the UK High Court wanted to "protect consumers". It seems insane. A temporary injunction, sure. But two years (actually three since the original vulnerability report) isn't remotely acceptable.
And getting back to the original point: I'd want to see some coverage of how this disaster happened in the UK courts.
Not everyone buys only new cars. Besides, in a world in which research was not censored, do you really expect that VW would have been slower to fix the issue?
No but I don't think they would of been faster either was my point.
Hence, to answer to the question posed "So how many vulnerable cars are on the roads of the world right now because the UK High Court wanted to "protect consumers""
I would answer 'possibly zero, BECAUSE of that' and once they are manufactured and sold they exist regardless of the owner, till they are destroyed.
but they got the key, so you can safely assume everybody else has or could. publishing it is the kind of pressure the manufacturer need from the public, otherwise people will do the same reasoning, kicking into 'secret = safe' mode even when it's completely pwnd - heck it's not even theoretical there is a paper on it with the extracted keys.
the fact you weren't affected is just because stealing a car is not the hardest part of the ordeal.