px_eliezer_ It's absolutely astonishing, the sort of nonsense car-makers are allowed to get away with. Considering that a vehicle purchase is one of the largest transactions many average people will ever make, and, even more importantly, that they trust said products with their lives and those of their children daily, you would think that these companies would be a little more careful in implementing these things.
I don't think there is a single car company that hasn't had a major flaw in at least one of their remote control or telemetry systems recently. In this case, it looks like any idiot with a little too much time on his hands could start any affected Subaru. Imagine if the car in question was in the owner's garage, and if they owned a house in which the attached garage can leak fumes into the living space. Had the occupants been asleep, not noticing the engine running, it could have had deadly consequences.
It's the same story with the rampant auto theft in Canada over the past few years. Instead of making political hay out of the situation and "investing" in equipment to find vehicles on their way out of the country in containers, why aren't governments twisting the companies' arms to do a better job on vehicle security? I'd bet you that, in the case of theft, if the car-makers were required to replace the stolen one with a brand new one at their expense and compensate the owner, in the event that it could be proven that the theft was due to lacking security (Toyota, KIA in particular), things would change in a hurry. Since selling replacements is profitable, as it is now, and they are not being sanctioned in any way, the nonsense will continue. What do they care if a few people die because of their (possibly willful) negligence? The bean-counters in the C-suite are too busy counting their bonuses, raises and stock options!