From: ---MIKE--- on
My owner's manual mentions that cellphone use can affect radio
reception. Is it possible that cellphone transmissions could impact the
car's computer and cause problems such as unintended acceleration?


---MIKE---
>>In the White Mountains of New Hampshire
>> (44° 15' N - Elevation 1580')

From: Clive on
In message
<814d3c60-45c8-4daf-b4e2-dda8995bfd0c(a)l12g2000prg.googlegroups.com>,
Michael <mrdarrett(a)gmail.com> writes
>Um, what if the passenger has a cellphone?
>
>The GSM phones are electrically noisy. For the longest time I was
>trying to figure out the DUT-dut-dut-dut...dut-dut-dut noise coming
>from our car stereo... turns out that was my wife's AT&T GSM phone
>talking to the cell tower... even though she wasn't on the phone. My
>Verizon CDMA phone doesn't do that.
The cars electronics are under the bonnet (hood?) And effectively in a
Faraday cage.
--
Clive

From: Ed White on
On Mar 11, 11:21 am, Michael <mrdarr...(a)gmail.com> wrote:

> > Using a phone in a moving vehicle is a sign of driver incompetence. So, if
> > cell phones have a negative effect on the vehicle, that's a good thing,
> > especially if it ends the driver's existence, or at the very least destroys
> > their car.
>
> Um, what if the passenger has a cellphone?

Why worry about the passenger...what if you are driving near a cell
tower? Or how about if you are near a TV or radio transmitter?

I am sure the electronics are tested in strong radio frequency fields.
I beleive it is unlikely that a wired system like the throtle control
system is affected by radio transmissions.

I do have a problme related to radio frequency - the tire monitoring
system! Recently I started getting "tire sensor failure messages."
They seemed to be random and impossible to predict or
duplicate.....until I researched the problem on the internet. One
person mentioned that some Garmin GPS units seem to interfere with the
radio fregency tie pressure transmitters. Guess what - I recently
placed an older Garmin unit in my truck, and sure enough every time I
got the failure message, it was turned on! I am not 100% sure this is
the problem, but I plan to leave it off and see if the problem goes
away.

Ed
From: Ed White on
On Mar 11, 3:19 pm, Clive <cl...(a)yewbank.demon.co.uk> wrote:

> The cars electronics are under the bonnet (hood?) And effectively in a
> Faraday cage.
> --
> Clive

How about cars with plastic/fiberglass hoods? My 2001 Mustang had a
hood made from pastic.

Ed
From: dr_jeff on
---MIKE--- wrote:
> My owner's manual mentions that cellphone use can affect radio
> reception. Is it possible that cellphone transmissions could impact the
> car's computer and cause problems such as unintended acceleration?

If the communications that occurs between the car's computers and other
components is at a similar frequency, it can. I doubt this is a problem,
though. In airplanes, cell phones don't interfere with computer
communications (the reason why cell phones are allowed while the plane
is flying has to do with cell phones switch towers too rapidly).

However, old cell phones (ones that used much more power than modern
ones) did interfere with respirators and other medical equipment in
hospitals. So, in theory, it can occur.

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/475203_3

Jeff
> ---MIKE---
>>> In the White Mountains of New Hampshire
> >> (44� 15' N - Elevation 1580')
>