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by gav 958 days ago
> * If you use a rental car, Factory Reset the head unit when you leave.

If I rent a car, I won't pair my phone at all, even going so far as to use a car charger instead of the provided USB ports.

4 comments

most car USB ports are slow charging. my little power port convert provides fast charging. so not only do i get the extra speed, but the assurance that the USB isn't nefarious. which admittedly is probably a bit paranoid, but what if i'm not?!

i didn't even like having my phone data sunk to a my own personal car. it just made no logical sense on why that would be useful, so being me, i just assumed it was for nefarious purposes. people no longer get the benefit of the doubt of being lazy/incompetent. i immediately jump to the situation essentially being an attack vector.

> most car USB ports are slow charging

TBH, in this day and age where it's difficult to replace batteries when they wear out, I strongly prefer slow-charging over fast-charging. Fast-charging wears out the batteries more quickly.

Same. I imagine the risk of malicious USB ports is higher around military and aerospace rental hubs, like Colorado Springs and Huntsville, Alabama.
It is exactly because people like younger me exist in this world, that I operate under the assumption that all hardware that I have not personally maintained custody of is tampered with regardless of location.
I recently rented a car, and the built-in navigation wasn't enabled. The assumption seemed to be that you'd connect your phone.

Driving in the country was fine with just audio navigation, but I had to connect my phone to get the display once I was driving in a big city. "Take the freeway exit" "Use the right lane" "Use the left lane" was coming too quick if I relied only on the audio.

Agreed, although I use a “usb condom” for convenience…
What's the technical term for those? (I'm afraid to search for that at work haha)
Usb power-only or charge only cable.

You can create one by severing the data lines in a normal usb cable

You can find them with the term "USB data blocker". You might have to add "dongle" onto that.