Well, in most sane countries "surprise bills" are illegal.
If I bring my car for maintenance and we agree on checking brake fluid and air filters, they cannot decide "Oh, the profiles of the tires are off, we'll change them". No one would need to pay them for this, as it was not agreed upon and is therefore not part of a contract.
So your case makes no sense at all.
Except that perhaps you life in an insane country, or are not well versed in basic contract law :-)
If I'm hacking something I own, it's also highly likely that I am capable of fixing it and doing any needed maintenance. Part of the hacker mindset is not letting the fear of voiding a warranty stop you from truly owning the product you paid for.
No. It doesn't matter. You can hack something you own as much as you want, and you're paying the manufacturer to do maintenance on it. If you want then to change the brakes, whether your infotainment system is hacked or not is exactly none of their business.
Hacking a linux box using USB tricks and maintaining the mechanics of a car - probably not a huge skills overlap there. But I doubt he's going to be in trouble when getting the car serviced. If he is worried he could roll back any changes before sending it in.
What would the bill be for? "Changing stuff you own"? When did we wholly give ourselves up to the idea that the manufacturer owns the stuff we bought, and they can penalize us for messing with their things?
They will see malware in the ECU. If a system is compromised by "obvious malware", other systems could be also. If there is a possible danger for your physical integrity any sensible worker will worry and take actions, specially before it evolves into a legal danger for them.
They will not hesitate to change the Electronic Control module and maybe the BSI also, just to be sure that your car don't fails in the worse moment and kills you. This could start at 1500 euro or much more depending on the brand. They will not understand your "right" to run Doom in your car.
Think also that currently some secondary car systems in many brands can be deactivated online, without creating a situation of danger for you, but making your driving experience really miserable if they want.
If you modify your car with an aftermarket part, and take it to the shop, they aren't going to yank out your aftermarket parts because they're "worried about liability." They're going to leave it there, because it's your car, not theirs. It's not their job to stupid-proof your vehicle, it's their job to fix it.
They will bill for the time lost chasing md5sums at least. You need to understand that cars are a bunch of computers now; but a laptop is not expected to kill you, and a car will. The risks associated with messing with the car are much higher.
And if you think that, lets say "BMW", will hesitate a second to block online your car heating in the middle of winter; think again. I had seen it before. Even if you could hack it, to reconfigure the system again is not always easy or obvious without some knowledge of what values you need to enter.
You're confusing how things are with how they should be, though. I'm legally liable for any modifications I made to the car, so the manufacturer or repair garage should leave my property well alone.
It's not up to the car's maker to in any way interfere with or dictate the way I use my car.
Surprise bill for at best "the checksum didn't match so we gave ourselves another paid workorder to investigate the filesystem of your headunit"?
It's more likely that you get it back with a new software (and all your modifications wiped), because as part of the routine maintenance some blue-collar technician connects a USB-dongle and blindly upgrades the firmware.
Unless of course, the modification is so popular that searching for it becomes part of the vendors routine maintenance protocol...
Such as guarantees, recalls, offers, campaigns, financing, leasing, standard maintenance, buying original parts, upgrading software, downloading GPS maps, resetting the addblue, refilling your particle filter liquid, changing belts, buying extra power for some time...
I thing that the term is pretty self-explainable. Every support that the customer could request from the brand after the sale. Some of this things can be provided by anybody, other only by the brand.
Most of these can be provided by any car shop (usually a lot cheaper than the manufacturer) and you don’t need to involve the manufacturer and rest are not things any normal person cares about.
But not all. I had never meet a single car owner that spend solid money in their new car and then decline the maker guarantee, but your definition of what is "normal people" may differ from mine.
You definitely do not need to go to the manufacturer for oil change. If you can’t change your cars oil yourself you can go to literally any car shop to get it changed for pretty cheap
Complete nonsense. The fact I disabled OnStar on my vehicles, for example, is an interesting point of conversation only when I bring them in for an oil change. They happily show me the diagnostic codes it produces and could not care less about it, nor could I.
The idea of "Hacking" cars feels great until you realize that this cars are driving in the same road as you
Hobbyist car hackers is a group filled with overconfidence, and overconfidence can lead easily to a hell of pain and a million of ways to shoot yourself in the face. Because electronic sensors tend to be connected with other sensors, that are connected with many other unsuspected things, and those last things can be more important that it seems.
If I bring my car for maintenance and we agree on checking brake fluid and air filters, they cannot decide "Oh, the profiles of the tires are off, we'll change them". No one would need to pay them for this, as it was not agreed upon and is therefore not part of a contract.
So your case makes no sense at all.
Except that perhaps you life in an insane country, or are not well versed in basic contract law :-)