This is odd since most cars require stepping down on the brake pedal to start the car. Even my UTV (side-by-side) requires this. I can't even remember the last vehicle I owned that did not require this. If my foot starts sinking down it will be obvious my brakes are failing. Cutting just enough into the last part of the brake line that is flexible hydraulic line to burst after a few miles would require quite some skill and a lot of practice. These lines have anywhere from 800 to 2000 pounds per square inch of pressure. Detailed high resolution pictures of the cut would be useful.
For what it's worth if you lose your brakes, downshift repeatedly until you are slow enough to find a softer landing zone. Rubbing tires up against the curb if there are no cars, bushes, rubbing up against the side of a hill, soft soil if available. If your car does not have an option to do this trade it in.
[Edit] I am not defending Elon or his orbiter zealots. Crazy evil stuff happens all the time but I think we are due some pictures and videos of the evidence. So far all we have is a story and things someone could have done to their own car. There are also a high prevalence of ring cameras that could capture his visitors. Cutting brake lines or wires of air bags is so oddly specific and prone to error that it could be an episode of Murder She Wrote about a botched assassination and the Sheriff is skeptical. Usually whistleblowers die from "self inflicted" GSW's to remove any loose ends FWIW.
Removing the airbag impact sensor and then rewiring it to bypass the fault detection, without triggering the airbags, is also indicative of someone who has extensive experience in something no one should normally have experience in.
That's shitbox-101 level stuff (if you're in a dumb state where they'd rather you monkey with stuff to turn a dash light off than just rock the light).
Many cars (especially ICE cars) may not have operational brake boost when you first get in to them — the vacuum that the power brakes rely on can easily be gone. So you step on the brakes without assist, then you start the engine, and then you have power brakes after a second or so.
I can easily imagine that stepping on a brake pedal with cut lines and no assist doesn’t feel that weird.
Also, plenty of people are not really tuned in to how their cars feel.
Many cars (especially ICE cars) may not have operational brake boost when you first get in to them
I warm up my engine, to the point of annoying armchair quarterbacks on HN. If my brake line was cut it would be very obvious within seconds. Exception would be a partial cut that leave a millimeter of line not cut but that would take some serious skill and practice.
You are right to be skeptical here. Brake lines are just rubber hydraulic lines and fail in "normal ways" frequently. Without ANY forensic details on "the cut" it is very likely coincidence going viral "because Elon"
How the actual fuck do you coincidentally end up with failing brakes right after a controversial social media post? The braking system is designed to be one of the most resilient systems in a vehicle. A coincident like that sounds a cosmic ray bitflip level of rare.
> I think we are due some pictures and videos of the evidence.
Yes, they should definitely prioritize posting pictures that only a fraction of a fraction of people will be able to understand or interpret at all, solely so that the people who want to pretend the accumulated things in the story didn't actually occur (or aren't that bad) can point to things they don't understand to naysay them. Brilliant.
My car doesn't require stepping on the brake to start but this car does sound like a newer one with weird "features" like that. I think the following car modifications indicate maliciousness and competency in the sabotage that could explain lack of alerting the driver,
>Since then, Berulis has laid low. He filed a police report, included in the suit and viewed by WIRED, and had the car seen by a mechanic who, according to the report, found “that the driver-side front impact/airbag sensor had also been removed but noted that the remaining wires had been spliced together, completing the circuit in a manner that prevented the vehicle from detecting or logging the missing component, while also preventing the vehicle from activating its safety protocols, alerting the driver, or engaging limp mode.” The police report also indicates that fingerprints had been found on Berulis’ car.
Now if only somebody involved in DOGE had all sorts of connections to people highly experienced with cars... maybe even by running a major carmaker himself?
> and had the car seen by a mechanic who, according to the report, found “that the driver-side front impact/airbag sensor had also been removed but noted that the remaining wires had been spliced together, completing the circuit in a manner that prevented the vehicle from detecting or logging the missing component, while also preventing the vehicle from activating its safety protocols, alerting the driver, or engaging limp mode.
It’s quite obvious that this job was done by a professional if the allegations are true.
And I’m not personally about to doubt that our current government wouldn’t stoop to that level.
This sounds more like 1970s TV drama than reality.
Cutting someone’s brake line has to be one of the least reliable ways to injure or kill them. If you cut my brake line, you might bust up my garage door or my neighbor’s yard, but they’re not going to fail on cue as I go around a mountain curve…(dramatic music)
"Scan this QR code with your mobile device to verify you are human. reCAPTCHA protects your privacy and does not share your details with this website or app."
Is that a new recaptcha thing? I've never seen that before.
Yeah there's been some debate about it in the news, because only a certified device can approve it, meaning this takes away any open-source platform to prove you're a human
As others have noted, this article seems light on details/hand-wavy to draw clicks. Vehicles have had dual-circuit brake systems since 1967 (mandated), so cutting one line wouldn't do the job, plus you'd be getting a light on the dash. The image in the article is of a stripped electric wire as though implying to the unfamiliar that this is a cut brake line.
It's pretty hard (probably nigh on impossible in the urban greater DC area) to make it out of your driveway/street without pressing the brake pedal enough to know you have an at least somewhat functional system.
The airbag system mods are pretty standard shitbox stuff. System goes off for whatever reason. Car is repaired. Sensors get tricked/fudged along the way because the owner doesn't want to put the money in (probably not worth it). Newer systems are more in depth and obnoxious to deal with so reading between the lines this is an older car which kinda also explains the brake thing.
Not that the government wouldn't do this but come on, they're not stealing your car to disassemble the front clip and monkey with the crash sensors and your brakes, they'll do something better than that.
This is odd since most cars require stepping down on the brake pedal to start the car. Even my UTV (side-by-side) requires this. I can't even remember the last vehicle I owned that did not require this. If my foot starts sinking down it will be obvious my brakes are failing. Cutting just enough into the last part of the brake line that is flexible hydraulic line to burst after a few miles would require quite some skill and a lot of practice. These lines have anywhere from 800 to 2000 pounds per square inch of pressure. Detailed high resolution pictures of the cut would be useful.
For what it's worth if you lose your brakes, downshift repeatedly until you are slow enough to find a softer landing zone. Rubbing tires up against the curb if there are no cars, bushes, rubbing up against the side of a hill, soft soil if available. If your car does not have an option to do this trade it in.
[Edit] I am not defending Elon or his orbiter zealots. Crazy evil stuff happens all the time but I think we are due some pictures and videos of the evidence. So far all we have is a story and things someone could have done to their own car. There are also a high prevalence of ring cameras that could capture his visitors. Cutting brake lines or wires of air bags is so oddly specific and prone to error that it could be an episode of Murder She Wrote about a botched assassination and the Sheriff is skeptical. Usually whistleblowers die from "self inflicted" GSW's to remove any loose ends FWIW.
Removing the airbag impact sensor and then rewiring it to bypass the fault detection, without triggering the airbags, is also indicative of someone who has extensive experience in something no one should normally have experience in.
That's shitbox-101 level stuff (if you're in a dumb state where they'd rather you monkey with stuff to turn a dash light off than just rock the light).
3 replies →
Many cars (especially ICE cars) may not have operational brake boost when you first get in to them — the vacuum that the power brakes rely on can easily be gone. So you step on the brakes without assist, then you start the engine, and then you have power brakes after a second or so.
I can easily imagine that stepping on a brake pedal with cut lines and no assist doesn’t feel that weird.
Also, plenty of people are not really tuned in to how their cars feel.
So what you're saying is, we need to abolish ICE and go electric?
Many cars (especially ICE cars) may not have operational brake boost when you first get in to them
I warm up my engine, to the point of annoying armchair quarterbacks on HN. If my brake line was cut it would be very obvious within seconds. Exception would be a partial cut that leave a millimeter of line not cut but that would take some serious skill and practice.
6 replies →
You are right to be skeptical here. Brake lines are just rubber hydraulic lines and fail in "normal ways" frequently. Without ANY forensic details on "the cut" it is very likely coincidence going viral "because Elon"
How the actual fuck do you coincidentally end up with failing brakes right after a controversial social media post? The braking system is designed to be one of the most resilient systems in a vehicle. A coincident like that sounds a cosmic ray bitflip level of rare.
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I've never needed to press the brake pedal until my current car. Just the clutch pedal. It's my first automatic.
It also doesn't require a hard press, just enough,
I think it'd be fairly straight forward to damage the rubber hoses near the calipers so that failure was imminent but not immediate.
My 2017 RAV4 doesn't. I think "most" is an exaggeration
https://assets.sia.toyota.com/publications/en/om-s/OM42752U/...
p. 196, step 3: Firmly depress the brake pedal.
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You are probably in the top 1% of individuals by how perceptive you are about your car.
> I think we are due some pictures and videos of the evidence.
Yes, they should definitely prioritize posting pictures that only a fraction of a fraction of people will be able to understand or interpret at all, solely so that the people who want to pretend the accumulated things in the story didn't actually occur (or aren't that bad) can point to things they don't understand to naysay them. Brilliant.
I’ve owned at least a dozen cars, none have required the brake pedal press to start.
Pressing the clutch is a North American thing in my experience. All my other vehicles didn’t need it to start.
My car doesn't require stepping on the brake to start but this car does sound like a newer one with weird "features" like that. I think the following car modifications indicate maliciousness and competency in the sabotage that could explain lack of alerting the driver,
>Since then, Berulis has laid low. He filed a police report, included in the suit and viewed by WIRED, and had the car seen by a mechanic who, according to the report, found “that the driver-side front impact/airbag sensor had also been removed but noted that the remaining wires had been spliced together, completing the circuit in a manner that prevented the vehicle from detecting or logging the missing component, while also preventing the vehicle from activating its safety protocols, alerting the driver, or engaging limp mode.” The police report also indicates that fingerprints had been found on Berulis’ car.
> newer one with weird "features" like that
Anything with push button start. It has been around a while.
Now if only somebody involved in DOGE had all sorts of connections to people highly experienced with cars... maybe even by running a major carmaker himself?
> and had the car seen by a mechanic who, according to the report, found “that the driver-side front impact/airbag sensor had also been removed but noted that the remaining wires had been spliced together, completing the circuit in a manner that prevented the vehicle from detecting or logging the missing component, while also preventing the vehicle from activating its safety protocols, alerting the driver, or engaging limp mode.
It’s quite obvious that this job was done by a professional if the allegations are true.
And I’m not personally about to doubt that our current government wouldn’t stoop to that level.
Are you just here to doubt the story?
No, I am skeptical without pictures and videos. I've also replaced a lot of brakes. A picture is worth a thousand words.
1 reply →
This sounds more like 1970s TV drama than reality.
Cutting someone’s brake line has to be one of the least reliable ways to injure or kill them. If you cut my brake line, you might bust up my garage door or my neighbor’s yard, but they’re not going to fail on cue as I go around a mountain curve…(dramatic music)
https://archive.is/zY2Eb
That link it throwing me:
Is that a new recaptcha thing? I've never seen that before.
Yeah, it's Google's second attempt at device attestation (ie. the widely panned web integrity tech they're trying to push through)
1 reply →
Yeah there's been some debate about it in the news, because only a certified device can approve it, meaning this takes away any open-source platform to prove you're a human
As others have noted, this article seems light on details/hand-wavy to draw clicks. Vehicles have had dual-circuit brake systems since 1967 (mandated), so cutting one line wouldn't do the job, plus you'd be getting a light on the dash. The image in the article is of a stripped electric wire as though implying to the unfamiliar that this is a cut brake line.
It's pretty hard (probably nigh on impossible in the urban greater DC area) to make it out of your driveway/street without pressing the brake pedal enough to know you have an at least somewhat functional system.
The airbag system mods are pretty standard shitbox stuff. System goes off for whatever reason. Car is repaired. Sensors get tricked/fudged along the way because the owner doesn't want to put the money in (probably not worth it). Newer systems are more in depth and obnoxious to deal with so reading between the lines this is an older car which kinda also explains the brake thing.
Not that the government wouldn't do this but come on, they're not stealing your car to disassemble the front clip and monkey with the crash sensors and your brakes, they'll do something better than that.