r/CarHacking • • Feb 02 '17

Car Hacking Subreddit Intro

89 Upvotes

Hi rch, we have added a lot of people lately with intro posts on other subs like the one below. We also usually get about 10 subs a day from people just stumbling in here. So I wanted to create a welcome post, to kinda show them what we are about and how to get started. If anyone has anything to add please do so. If anyone has any questions about us or where to start do so here.

Our goal is to create a highly technical car subreddit, a place for automotive engineers, senior technicians, full blown car nerds, or people who are working towards one of these. We are interested in the inner workings of cars and today that often involves electronics. While we see electronics as the priority we are pretty liberal in allowing other topics as long as they somehow fit our goal of trying to understand cars. So things like DIY aero, suspension setup and other things the community is hacking on come up. In general our other tangential interests include: Modern cars, New tech, Open source hardware/software, DIY, hot rodding, eco modding, customization, security research, right to repair and more.

We started this subreddit about a year ago. Right now we have 3000 people and discussion is just starting to get good. Most of our members found us through maker or engineering subreddits. So I wanted to reach out to more of the car communities and try to grow our knowledge base.

Our name is r/carhacking and I know the term hacking can be offputting to some as it has a bad connotation. When someone says they are “hacking” their car it generally means they are trying to reverse engineer it for any number of reasons like to find security flaws, make upgrades, make repairs, or just understand how it works.

Here are a couple examples of posts that have been popular so far. A lot of our posts focus on beginner through intermediate projects using arduino and readily available hardware for the purpose of learning and or not paying a premium for things you can make yourself:

More advanced projects:

Relevant news/ research:

If your new our documentation is a good place to start

If you aren't new and you’re interested in helping out please consider:

  • Improving documentation - think about what resources have helped you
  • Spread the word - this is a niche community that is pretty spread out, but there is a lot of potential if we can get together on a third party site like this
  • Work on the theme, sidebar and flair - this is next level community stuff that isn’t necessary, but it’s fun to work on when you have the time.
  • Modding - right now we are fine, but we might need help in the future as we grow

Let me know if I missed something or got something wrong.


r/CarHacking • • Feb 27 '21

CAN CAN bus and car hacking getting started resources

295 Upvotes

I get asked how to get started with automotive networking, car hacking, and CAN almost weekly. I often direct people to this subreddit, so I figured I would help out and post some resources I have found and think are a good place to start.

learning resources:

Car Hacking 101: Practical Guide to Exploiting CAN-Bus using Instrument Cluster Simulator

I also direct people to the Car Hacking Village to get some hands-on experience. They put on great conference talks, demos, and contests. Looks like they are even working on some “getting started” content.

And of course, The Car Hacking Handbook is a great resource.

I will add more as I think of them. Please add your finds in the comments.

​

Tools:

Good wiring diagrams and car manuals are essential. This is pretty much where my research starts for each project. You see how things are networked and what to expect to find on CAN. You'll quickly learn to recognize things like gateways. You can also use the troubleshooting section to understand things. For example, what things do I need to control to start the car?

I like:

  • prodemand (I pay $170/mo for a shop subscription, I think you can purchase it for individual cars, but be careful you often have to jump around to find a year that has complete diagrams)
  • Identifix (probably what I would buy if I was starting over)

Basic hardware: Here you will be working with things like Arduino, Linux, SavvyCAN, and Can-utils. You have to learn to do a lot yourself, but these tools are more open for you to make them do what you need.

Tools designed by the community I use:

The above articles offer a pretty good step-by-step guide to getting started with the Macchina M2.

Any cheap “Amazon special” OBD2 dongle will come in handy from time to time. They are all based on something called ELM327. "ELM327 abstracts the low-level protocol and presents a simple interface that can be called via a UART". This abstraction has fundamental limitations that prevent it from being useful in most serious applications. But, it is sufficient for reading and clearing some codes and that sort of thing when you’re getting started.

​


r/CarHacking • • 2h ago

Original Project webCAN: Real-time custom CAN dashboards (zero installation)

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35 Upvotes

Hi all,

We just released a new CANsub firmware (02.05.01) that adds a 'dashboard view' to webCAN, our free browser-based GUI that runs on the CANsub.

This lets you build powerful custom dashboards for real-time visualization - with zero installation or backend required (everything runs in the browser).

You can read more about this in the CANsub Intro - if you get a few min to check it out I'd be very interested in any thoughts/ideas/feedback, e.g. what you think would be useful for your use cases.

As with the CANsub in general, we make it easy to create new dashboards via AI agents (if you want). I e.g. used this in my AI CAN sniffer article to create a quick Hyundai i10 dashboard to show the OBD2 vs. proprietary CAN signals, you can find a clip of the dashboard in the showcase 1 example.

Happy to hear your inputs!

Martin, co-owner at CSS Electronics


r/CarHacking • • 11h ago

Original Project Re-implementing the Blue&Me node on an Alfa Giulietta's B-CAN: PROXI, the radio's source handshake, wheel buttons, track text

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16 Upvotes

I could not find published CAN information for the Alfa Romeo Giulietta 940, so I worked from captures on my own 2011 car, starting from fmntf's fiatcan work on the Fiat Doblò and karolkrupa's alfa-blue-me for the 159. A Raspberry Pi Zero W now takes the place of the dead Blue&Me module, node 4021.

What the captures settled:

  • B-CAN at 50 kbit/s, 29-bit identifiers, ID = topic<<16 | node. Body Computer 4000, cluster 4003, radio 4005.
  • **PROXI:** about a second after the bus wakes, the Body Computer sends `1E114000#`. On my car, nodes `400A`, `4003` and `401A` answered within milliseconds with the same six-byte value. A silent node gets three retries; a mismatch makes the odometer blink. The Pi uses the value read from that car. The public code reads it from a setting that is covered by tests but has not yet been run in the car.
  • The Body Computer's PROXI record `2023` had to list the telematic unit as present. I read and saved the original record before changing it with the documented script and keeping an undo file, then ran the alignment with the Pi answering diagnostics as the telematic ECU. This changes the car's configuration and is not a generic value to copy.
  • **Source handshake:** MEDIA makes the radio send 06314005#0C…; the node has about 100 ms to answer …84 on 06314021. Unprompted answers are ignored.
  • **Wheel buttons:** frame 06354000 from the Body Computer, one bit per button, same layout fiatcan documents for the Doblò.
  • **Track text:** the Doblò's format and 6-bit character set work on the Giulietta's radio.
  • The body-B-CAN pair on OBD pins 1 and 9 carried body traffic but no `18DA…` diagnostic frames during a PROXI alignment on my car. It is usable for body traffic; I used the module connector for the complete Blue&Me captures.

One rule in the software: it transmits only frames first recorded on this car, each tied to a capture file and timestamp. A fresh install is listen-only.

Write-up with the frame tables, timing and wiring:

https://duzgun.org/blog/giulietta-blue-me/

Corrections welcome, especially from anyone with another 940


r/CarHacking • • 15h ago

Original Project ESP32 S3 Gauges based OBD + Hard Sensors

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33 Upvotes

Hello there

Based on recent publications, a lot of peoples are going at it with various ESP32 1.75 inch screen, i started mine around 2 years ago with TFT screen and some ESP32 WROOM. I went to the 1.75 inch screen route and since i've been trying to develop this.

I'm aware of this already existing same kind of project that, i swear lmao, learned existence only today (https://github.com/Mr-Mika/M-Gauge/**)**

What i tried to do differently based on the other projets it the ability to wire physical sensors as well for older cars where the CANBUS / OBD data doesn't contains as much informations as recent vehicules.

On my case, it's my AP1 S2000 which doesn't provide oil pressure / temperature from the ECU.

So, i started working on a breadboard, doing at the beginning hand made code (now almost fully assisted with GPT) to create something that could be incorporated on any vehicule, and also provide the ability to wire sensors directly to the board

I went also a different to try and create my own custom PCB (still tweaking the board at the moment) to be able to have something the most "out of the box" possible :

  • 8 screens fully customizable
  • 4 values per screen
  • Unit, Threshold and Threshold color per value customizable
  • 2 Physical Sensor input
  • OBD2 Bluetooth BLE Dongle support (i'm going to add CANBUS capabilities also) (both will be supported / compatible)
  • OBD Values discover and assigned to specific values that can be renamed and customized as well
  • Smartphone application to manager each parameters per ESP Unit
  • Gauges data exportable with history data (only physical sensor for now but easily addable for each values)

I'm adding also some picture and videos of what i've done so far

The code is sitting on gitlab for now, i also wanna go opensource but i want to know if people would be interested

Side not, i'm clearly not confortable with PCB conception, i've went the AI route with my own breadbord conception as a baseline, i think there's clearly more to refined / polish on this side

For physical sensors, i also want to add more conversion table for different brand and type of sensors, right now i'm only using it for oil pressure, but the idea is to support more sensors

What's your thoughs ? I'm aware there's lot of similar projets going around and i found out about them really recently


r/CarHacking • • 22h ago

Original Project Title: I built an integrated Android dashboard for my 4WD using an ESP32 and AI

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53 Upvotes

r/CarHacking • • 10h ago

CAN Passive CAN bus logging vs polling OBD-II PIDs: what are the real trade-offs for capturing vehicle data?

5 Upvotes

When you want to record what a car is doing over time, there are two common starting points. One is to listen passively to the CAN bus and record every frame. The other is to actively poll the ECU with diagnostic requests, usually the standardized OBD-II PIDs or a manufacturer's UDS reads. Both get you data, but they fail in different ways.

Passive sniffing is read-only in principle, so it does not ask any module for anything. You see the real traffic at the real rate, with accurate timestamps, and you can catch short events that a polling loop would miss. The downside is that raw frames mean nothing until you decode them. Without a database file or a lot of reverse engineering, you are staring at hex and guessing which bytes are RPM, throttle position, or a fault flag. Decoding also depends on the bus speed, the gateway's filtering, and whether the manufacturer even sends the signal you want on the bus you can reach.

Polling is the opposite trade. The standard PIDs are documented, so the answers are easy to interpret, and most cars respond to them without any special setup. The costs are speed and coverage. Each request and response takes time, so your sample rate is limited and you get a snapshot rather than a continuous signal. The standard only defines a small set of parameters, so anything manufacturer specific needs UDS reads, which require knowing the addresses and data identifiers, and those vary a lot between makers and even between model years. Active requests also add load to the diagnostic channel and can interfere with other tools or sessions if you are not careful about who else is talking.

A common middle ground is to use passive capture to understand timing and relationships, then use polling or UDS to label the values with known names. Whether that combination is practical depends heavily on the vehicle, so I would not assume results from one platform carry over to another.

For people who have done both: which problems did you hit first, decoding the passive data or getting reliable answers from polling? I am curious whether the gateway filtering was the bigger blocker or the lack of documentation.


r/CarHacking • • 13h ago

Original Project BMW 645ci 2004 dme

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5 Upvotes

r/CarHacking • • 9h ago

Community Mhhauto forum user here?

1 Upvotes

Hi. Does anyone have account on mhhauto forum and could help me to contact few users from there? I would send you links to users and a message (containing my phone number) that I would love you to send them. Its about scam company that I wanted to sue and I saw there are more victims and those people lost money on this company too. Anyone willing to help? Thank you.


r/CarHacking • • 1d ago

Original Project Wireless CAN-Bus gauge I made for my neighbors Toyota Camry

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116 Upvotes

r/CarHacking • • 18h ago

Original Project I made a dashboard app for Android head units: live OBD-II gauges, 32 skins, music spectrum displays. Looking for testers

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2 Upvotes

Hi all! I'm looking for testers for OBDash, my first app. It turns an Android phone, tablet or head unit into a live car dashboard.

You don't need a car or an OBD adapter to help. The app has a demo mode with simulated data, so you can install it and try every skin from your couch.

How to join:

  1. Join the tester group: https://groups.google.com/g/obdash-testers

  2. The app is in Google's review right now. As soon as it's approved, I'll email the group the Play Store opt-in link.

  3. Install it and keep it installed for 14 days.

It's free for testers. Drop a comment with your own app's tester link and I'll join yours too.

Thanks!


r/CarHacking • • 19h ago

Original Project ESP32 based wireless / BLE gauge

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2 Upvotes

r/CarHacking • • 1d ago

Community Can all wireless connectivity and telemetry be physically and permanently disabled on a 2026 Toyota Corolla? Software opt-outs are NOT enough.

15 Upvotes

I'm investigating whether it's possible to permanently disable all wireless communications on a 2026 Toyota Corolla Hybrid (Australian model) without affecting essential vehicle functionality.

I haven't purchased a new vehicle in approximately 18 years, and I'm genuinely surprised by how much the automotive industry has changed regarding connectivity, telemetry, and data collection.

I work in IT and cybersecurity, and I'm concerned about the privacy and security implications of modern connected vehicles, particularly persistent 4G connectivity, location tracking, and remote access capabilities.

With rapid advances in AI, large-scale data collection and increasingly sophisticated analysis techniques, these concerns are becoming even more significant to me.

My goal is to physically prevent the vehicle from transmitting data or communicating with external networks. Software opt-outs and privacy settings are not sufficient.

I'm willing to sacrifice connected services, SOS functionality, and OTA updates, provided essential vehicle functions remain unaffected.

Questions for Toyota technicians, automotive electronics engineers, or anyone with relevant experience:

  1. Can the DCM/4G modem be physically disconnected or removed without affecting essential vehicle systems?
  2. Are there other independent wireless modules capable of transmitting telemetry or location data?
  3. Would removing the DCM fuse be sufficient, or is complete hardware disconnection necessary?
  4. Could these modifications affect internal systems, infotainment, diagnostics, driver-assistance features, or normal vehicle operation?
  5. Warranty: Could these modifications affect the warranty on a brand-new Toyota, particularly under Australian Consumer Law?
  6. Is there a reversible, non-destructive hardware solution that minimises potential warranty issues?
  7. How can I independently verify that no wireless telemetry is being transmitted?
  8. Has anyone successfully done this on a recent Toyota, particularly a 2025–2026 Australian Corolla Hybrid?

I'm specifically interested in hardware-level solutions, technical documentation, and firsthand experiences, rather than software privacy controls.

I'm not looking to debate whether these concerns are justified. I'd simply like to understand what's technically possible and what the consequences might be.

Any technical insights would be greatly appreciated.


r/CarHacking • • 2d ago

Cool Project Find Digital Shiftknob

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333 Upvotes

This is inspired by UPDATE: You guys suggested turning my DIY Smartwatch project into a Shift Knob... So I actually did it! 🕹️⌚

The dev board I used is the Waveshare ESP32-S3 1.46inch Round Display Development Board

It has 4 pages currently:

  • Home page with custom wallpapers + vibration meter
  • Live G-Force meter
  • Lap Timer - Sport Chrono inspired (tap to start, double tap to reset)
  • Gear Position - With calibration. This is actually really hard to get right and I'm still in prototype stage.

I'm hoping to get some help with some good 3D designs that fits the dev board better and can plug directly into the M3's link!

I'm planning on sharing the codes soon and creating a webpage for non-tech users to customize with their own homepage photos and upload this firmware on their dev board. Stay tuned!!

[Edit] Some people are confused about the usb-c so I wanted to explain: I can power it via the power pin that goes into the accessory source with a 12v->5v step down converter. USB-C is used for now because I'm still in the prototyping stage and I still need to flash firmware to it.

On the actual usefulness of this thing: I've never misread my gear the day I learned how to drive a manual, and I learned it on YouTube while signing the paperwork for my first Civic SI 😂. This is just a fun/learning project as a software engineer. Even if it never becomes a useful thing, I get to apply some electrical, physics, and programming together... With some helps by Gemini Argon 😅

P.S.1. I messed up the display a bit right before filming this so that's why you see the lines 😅

P.S.2. I posted in the BMW group but they haven't accepted it yet, so I figure I'll post it here.


r/CarHacking • • 1d ago

Original Project Another weekly PullScan update! This time, I’ve put together a quick video demonstrating how PullScan works.

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1 Upvotes

PullScan is more than just a CSV datalog analysis tool. Here’s what it offers today:

  • Datalog Analysis: Analyze complex automotive datalogs and understand what’s happening with your vehicle in plain English.
  • Screenshot Analysis: Upload screenshots of datalog graphs and convert them into interactive graphs for further analysis.
  • Fix Me: Uses machine learning trained on real-world automotive troubleshooting cases to provide guidance on how to address issues identified during analysis. Currently available for JB4 platforms only.
  • Live OBD2 Monitoring: Connect an OBD2 device to monitor your vehicle’s live telemetry while driving.
  • Performance Measurement: Measure 0–60 mph, quarter-mile times, and use Street Dyno to estimate vehicle performance. These features are still in beta and currently free to use. I’ll be sharing a video soon demonstrating how they work!

I’m continuously improving PullScan and working on new features. There’s more to come!

PullScan is available on iOS and Android.

iOS:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pullscan-automotive-analyzer/id6799187256

Android:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pullscan.android

Website:
https://www.pullscan.com


r/CarHacking • • 1d ago

Multiple Looking for Lexus TX350 instrument cluster firmware/dump file for US market

1 Upvotes

Hi!

Ready to buy instrument cluster firmware/dump file for Lexus TX350 for US market only!

Please send a message if you have one.

Thanks!


r/CarHacking • • 1d ago

CAN Has anyone here tried to get inside a newer RAM truck?

3 Upvotes

I pulled the TBM out of my 2025 RAM 1500 Big Horn (long story short, updates were screwing up my radio), but now the odometer is blinking. Figures. Trying to figure out how to get in to the system to tell it to stop looking for the TBM, but apparently there's a buttton of layers of security and hidden coding. Anyone done this before?


r/CarHacking • • 1d ago

CAN BMW X5 E53 (2004) with Android HU and IBUS: Exploring custom CAN integration using Arduino Pro Micro & MCP2515

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1 Upvotes

r/CarHacking • • 1d ago

Original Project Tytuł: Gdzie mogę uzyskać dane o pojazdach Grupy Volkswagen (VAG) dla mojej aplikacji?

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1 Upvotes

Hi everyone!

I'm currently developing an automotive app for Volkswagen Group vehicles (VW, Audi, Škoda, SEAT and CUPRA).

I'm trying to find out where I can get reliable vehicle data, such as VIN information, factory equipment, PR codes, vehicle specifications, OEM parts, service information and technical data.

Does anyone know where I can access this kind of data? Are there any databases, APIs, official sources or third-party providers that offer it?

I'm also interested in hearing from anyone who has worked with VAG data before.

Any help or recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!


r/CarHacking • • 1d ago

Cool Project Find BMW Full I-Level Update via ISTA – ENET vs J2534, AOS Requirements & Tips

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1 Upvotes

r/CarHacking • • 3d ago

Original Project Achieved root execution on Hyundai/Kia cars.

131 Upvotes

Hello everyone,

I am the creator of NEMESIS, an exploit targeting Hyundai/Kia Gen5W multimedia based cars.

I am glad to announce that now NEMESIS is available for public use, you can use it to get root access of your car, install many customizations to gain functionality such as Wireless Android Auto, Apple CarPlay, Manual Preconditioning, Turn-by-Turn navigation to HUD and Cluster from your phone, and much more!

I have all the findings and research posted on my GitHub: https://github.com/xwtk/hmg_nemesis. Everything is completely free, donations are always welcome. You can also join our Discord community from the link to get assistance and join our discussions.


r/CarHacking • • 2d ago

Original Project I created a reimplementation of HDS for Linux

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38 Upvotes

I’ve been working on this for about 5 months reverse engineering HDS and getting it running on Linux. It's been a long road since I wanted all the pcode to be accurate and verified against the original compiler. It’s still in its infancy, and i’d love to see what you guys think.


r/CarHacking • • 2d ago

Cool Project Find CSS Electronics have published the technique to do CAN blackbox analysis with Claude Code

7 Upvotes

I think this is like the foot in the door to produce the holy grail of reverse engineering...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQDqWuL5-nQ


r/CarHacking • • 2d ago

Cool Project Find LEXUS LS430 2002 Cluster

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4 Upvotes

Hello! Does anyone know if I can make that cluster for Lexus L430 2002 to work in simhub because I searched about it and it doesn’t use CAN it uses something called MPX system so instead of buying it and wasting money I would ask if anyone has idea before purchasing it


r/CarHacking • • 2d ago

Original Project Why do so many ECU tuning files only increase boost and fuel without properly recalibrating the engine?

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1 Upvotes