Report: Cars are vulnerable to wireless hacking

[happyslug]

41. Watch yourself, 93.5% of Americans buy cars with Automatics transmissions....

In 2012 6.5% of all New Cars sold in the US had Standard transmissions:

http://www.autotrader.com/research/article/car-news/192206/manual-transmissions-regaining-popularity.jsp

http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/a6308/whats-really-killing-the-manual-transmisson/

In 2010, just 3.9% of all cars sold had Standard Transmissions:

http://business.time.com/2012/08/02/last-gasp-for-the-stick-shift/

It is hard, but NOT impossible to drop an automatic into Neutral. Furthermore manual transmission are all direct mechanical connection between the gear shift level and the transmission. It is possible for such connections be electronic (and thus controllable from outside the vehicle) in an automatic. The same is true of the newer "Automatic Manual Transmission" (in fact most are electronic controlled).

Thus if you opt for a Standard Transmission and manual door locks and manual windows, the most they can do is kill your engine. You can still coast to a stop and get out. They can increase the engine speed, but as long as the transmission is NOT engaged you can coast to a stop even if they deactivate the brakes (Through if you are going downhill, and they deactivate your brakes, you better hope the brakes have a mechanical backup i.e. they still work to a degree if you hit the brakes.