“You thought you’d get away with this. I am in your car. I am in your maps,” he shouted at her, according to the police records.
Over the coming days, Stacey found that the parental control profile, to which she had no access, could almost entirely control the car, including its speed, climate control, lock and curfew hours, determining when the car could be driven.
Between 6 and 12 November 2025, Pucci remotely alternated the car’s temperature setting between extremely cold and extremely hot.
“The victim has not been able to drive certain speeds and on most recent occasions throughout this period, [the accused] has turned on ‘Valet Mode’ which immediately reduces the speed to 40km per hour causing significant safety issues for the victim on the road”, the police documents stated.
“The victim has not had any control of her vehicle since she noticed the parental control profile added on the 1st November 2025.
What the hell? Why hasn’t she changed her password yet?
Aha, the article explains:
After having trouble navigating the technology, Stacey was offered help from Pucci, who said he would need the car to be registered in his name so “he could take control of the Tesla app to ‘assist her’”.
This is why I like my old Jeep. It’s manual. It’s got great “security”. I always say it’s got an alarm system; because any small time thief would yell out of frustration. When I travel, I pull out the clutch pedal and take fuel relay out and unplug the battery and leave it in 4lo lol. Oh yeah and you have to unplug the clutch pedal fuse for it to start. If the battery has been unplugged, then you got remap the ECU which takes like a half hour of my shovel wedged against the gas pedal unless you want the engine stalling out every time you take your foot of the pedal. It’s also one of the rare colors, as in only 2000 made with dicks, I’m very childish, carved in hard to see spots to make it a nightmare for part thieves. So if you steal it, pretty much with a tow truck, it’s like putting a bullseye on yourself.
The point was, there’s no controlling that. I don’t like all the new tech put into cars.
Awesome. Love the tactics. :)
Hahah thanks!
The fact these controls exist at all is a fucking nightmare. How are these vehicles legally sold? This technology should illegal I’m vehicles.
I hate to break it to you, but most modern cars have this level of remote controls - they’re just not exposed to owners.
https://www.wired.com/2015/07/hackers-remotely-kill-jeep-highway/
To paraphrase Strong Bad: “Your [car] has too much computer in it…and not enough typewriter.”
I love seeing strong bad references in the wild!
Virus equals very yes? Computer over?! What does that mean?!
Really, we should have heeded his warnings.
I honestly don’t know, they’re death traps
I’m sure there’s some online fora and FB groups for absolute psychofuck narcissists who will go to great lengths to terrorize their supposed partners and children, and exchange awful ideas on how to keep them on a leash, and this includes the above takeover of a fucking Tesla.
This is why we reset our vehicles when an employee leaves. Probably should do the same when you have a messy breakup.
My significant others just got a bunch of ford app notifications for a vehicle at a job he left 6 months ago. Not everyone takes these things seriously. I had no idea he even still had the app on his phone lol.
If you drive a swasticar, maybe don’t expect any privacy or ownership. That’s not how Nazi’s work.
Its not just these cars and not a new thing.
https://fractionalciso.ca/the-groundbreaking-2015-jeep-hack-changed-automotive-cybersecurity/
Musk should have to write a check for $1 billion to her.
I’m not kidding. That’s how we have to punish billionaires. Every infraction is a minimum $1 billion payout to each person.
He owes her 10 million and pays 2 billion dollar in taxes
I’m with you. I wish we lived in a world where these rich bastards were being held meaningfully accountable.
It’s up to us. We have to force our representatives to enforce justice, or we will, and it will include those who denied us justice.
Why? These are known useful features of the car. The guy changing the settings remotely is the criminal and she was too ignorant to disable his account. It’s like if you give your house keys to your stalker and find them illegally in your house then trying to sue the lock maker.
Please explain how remotely limiting the speed of a vehicle is useful and not dangerous.
The only “parental controls” you need are the keys.
that feature is called “Valet mode”. It’s specifically to stop valets going joy-riding on your $150k car that was faster than most Ferraris back when that feature got added.
Sweet. So why does it need to be done remotely? Why not a passcode?
the parental control […] could almost entirely control the car, including its speed
They assume kids in the driver seat who need to be controlled? How weird is that??
It’s wild to me the extent of control that hides under remote capabilities for Tesla. I could never drive one of these knowing it.
Basically all modern vehicles unfortunately.
Yeah. :(
I live in a city with a central (free) street car line and have a Segway, so I almost never drive, though I own a 2013 Kia. Stories like this are far more interesting to me than most, I’d imagine, given my general lack of familiarity with how advanced auto tech has become.
I feel you, I’m working on getting a 1984 Honda ct110 to stop being stupid and drive an 01 Tacoma, basically every car I’ve driven has been older than 2010 with a heavy bias towards early 00s and 90s and everything past that point deals psychic damage just looking at it. I don’t need cruise control and I sure as shit don’t need a fucken iPad mounted in the dash.
I have never, and I will do my absolute best to never even ride in a Tesla.
They are simply unsafe
Super unnecessary and dystopian. If you‘re a minor with a driving license your parent should either be by your side or you know what you‘re doing since you have a drivers license. If those systems fail you need a better system rather than parental control software in a vehicle.
If you‘re a minor with a driving license your parent should either be by your side or you know what you‘re doing since you have a drivers license.
Are you seriously suggesting that teenagers are just going to do what they’re told? The one thing teenagers are famous for NOT doing. Just because their parents might know they’re out driving, that doesn’t actually prevent teenagers from doing stupid shit.
You also do realize that you don’t have to be 18 to get a driver’s license right? The almost universal standard around the world is between 15 and 16 years old, including in the US where Tesla is based, and Australia where this article is from.
The company introduced Speed Limit Mode following the death of 18-year-olds Barrett Riley and Edgar Monserratt Martinez in 2018. The pair crashed doing 116 mph (186 kph) in a 30 mph (40 kph) zone.
If you’re a licensed driver, you know how to drive. If people are being given licenses without properly making sure the licensee is both qualified and mentally capable to drive and know what responsibilities that entails, then we shouldn’t be letting them drive and that’s a failing on society.
At least where I’m from, unlicensed minors aren’t allowed to drive without a licensed adult present.
And if you don’t trust your unlicensed teenager to not steal your keys and go on a joyride, the I can’t help you because you need a professional family therapist to work through issues.
Licensed driver ≠ able to drive. Lots of jurisdictions will give 18 years or older a license and the only requirement is passing the lenient written test.
Edit: My anecdotal experience on the road has shown me lots of people have licenses that clearly should not.
Edit edit. The people that think that just because you have a license that you actually know how to drive are scary. I’ve personally known multiple people who attained licenses when they never ever should’ve been given them. They were dangers to themselves and others and luckily no one was killed. Getting your license and actually knowing how to be a driver, a safe, skilled, able driver, are separate things.
That was literally the point that they were making.
Are you sure you’re reading that right? Their first sentence contradicts your claim.
That’s why you need to read past the first sentence.
The almost universal standard around the world is between 15 and 16 years old
No. It is 18. The universe, btw, is outside of your weird little province in that weird country where they still use body parts for measurement units.
And as soon someone is driving on public roads with a legal license, everything that the car does or does not is his own personal responsibility, not the parents. They have to leave their fingers out.
Maybe you’re right, don’t really care because it’s not very relevant to the article. I looked up Australia which is where this article is about, and Tesla is based on the US… and 15-16 is the case in both places, so thats all that really matters for the discussion.
I made the assumption about it being more common based on verifying the place the article is about and my own experience when traveling internationally.
You realize the article is about Australia right? Clearly you didn’t even bother to read it since it mentions Sydney in the first paragraph.
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The almost universal standard around the world is between 15 and 16 years old
You might want to check that, because if you look at the list of minimum driving ages on Wikipedia you will see that most countries have a minimum of 18 for cars.
Even in the US many states allow kids to start driving as early as 15 under learning permits. It’s funny we don’t want social media companies putting controls in due to freedom of speech, but then tell parents they are responsible to control their kids. Seems like there is a middle ground, and when a person abuses that control, they go to jail.
Learning permits require a licensed adult in the passenger seat at all times.
May want to look into those states… In my 16 year olds can easily drive without an adult. They are limited (can’t drive at night) but are allowed to drive. This the case in a ton of states.
16 with a Driver’s License, sure. 15 with a Learner’s Permit, no.
That’s exactly their point. If a licensed adult has to be in the vehicle (even though there is no way for them to control the vehicle from the passengers seat) then that’s not much different than a competent adult guardian monitoring their kids online time.
So it is.
But not in Australia where the article is about, so it doesn’t really matter anyway for the actual discussion at hand.
Rich people treat their kids like adult sized tweens until they turn 40.
And this is why both my cars are 40 years old.
Enrico Pucci was able to control his former partner’s electric car remotely, controlling its speed, temperature settings and lock
Yeah, the existence of that character made it a huge pain finding photos for my video.
Though owner controls they were given full access to. Strange how that was left out.
Maybe don’t give root access to your device out to your partner of a few months.
Knowing how gaslighting and Stockholm syndrome looks like, the owner/victims may think their partner is made in heaven.
Trade in the f’n neo-Nazi vehicle! There are plenty of better EV’s on the market.
Oh look another reason for my “reasons to not buy modern cars” pile.
Made a video about this story for my channel this week, but it’s just a good reminder to be extra-cautious with anything that can be operated remotely: Revoke unauthorized profiles, change passwords often, check for hidden profiles, etc. If you don’t know how to do that yourself, go to the dealership and get help.
Knowing nothing of Tesla would she have been able to gain control back AFTER the lock was put on?
For example you can reboot an Android to safe mode and wipe back to factory.
I’m not sure if that’s possible on tech heavily cloud controlled through apps and online accounts.
Basically, the person that owns the car can always kick out other people’s access.
If she legally registered that vehicle under her partner’s name (instead of her’s), then she’s shit out of luck.
I’ll just add my sisters story here because its similar and just as crazy. Rob eventually tried to kill a girlfriend and luckily her new boyfriend was a better shot
https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna19253352
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article98680887.html
Jesus. Awful stuff.
Totally. Thankfully his girls are normal and don’t seem to have a lot of baggage from it. One of them is a very successful beautician that recently did the hair and makeup for one of the stars of the 50th SNL celebration. She looks like she could be a movie star herself.
Rob was a master manipulator yet somehow I never fell for it and it drove a wedge between us to the point that I wouldn’t be invited to family events. Funny how standing up to a bully will make the bully run away.
One time he made another one of my nieces cry by being cruel with words and calling her ugly (she was 13 and that is not fucking cool to do to a 13 year old) and it made me so upset. I yelled at him and confronted him. Anyway a few moments into the argument he acts like he wants to fight me and I step up to him and he goes and runs and hides behind my sister, knowing that I would not hurt her to get to him. Such a coward. The world is a better place without him.
One time he made another one of my nieces cry by being cruel with words and calling her ugly (she was 13 and that is not fucking cool to do to a 13 year old) and it made me so upset. I yelled at him and confronted him.
Good on you for sticking up for the kid. That is an awful way to treat a young girl, no doubt, and standing up to bullies is important.
Reminded me of a claimed incident where a reporter or whistle blower was killed by their car. thought it was weird that it wasn’t bigger news.
edit: tried searching for it. Not Hastings or that ABC conspiracy. Though perhaps something was up with Hastings but that’s a whole other mess.
Not sure if this is the one you’re thinking of but I remember folks being suspicious of it. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/23/us/ice-shooting-texas-witness-dead.html
Looks like it’s paywalled though so I couldn’t skim through to even see if it was Tesla related.
It at least before 2020. The details I vaguely remember was the vehicle hit something at top open throttle and the passenger was killed either on impact or during the subsequent fire.
Find it a bit disconcerting how many suggestive accidents there have been matching that.
Add it to the ever-growing pile of why fly-by-wire for cars is and always will be a bad idea.
I think the problem here is more that the car has a network connection. I’m not sure how you could feasibly have an EV that isn’t fly-by-wire (meaning controlled by a computer or microcontroller).
Even something like a BMS is, in and of itself a computer.
The only wireless connectivity a car should have is Bluetooth to connect your phone to the head unit that is disconnected from the rest of the car.
It’s be nice to see some kind of modern EV run fully open source software.
I mean I generally agree but that’s not what’s happening here. They can limit the speed and power but they can’t like force the accelerator or slam on the brakes or something.
Randomly limiting someone to 40km/h on a highway or fucking with the extremes of heat and cold are dangerous things to do to a driver.
Randomly limiting someone to 40km/h on a highway
1000000%
I once had a flat on a major freeway, and had to switch out the donut tire, and then maintain 40 mph for 100 miles to get home. (So the donut tire wouldn’t go flat as well.) I had my hazards on, but basically every driver ignored it, including semi-truck drivers, and whipped around me at 80+ mph. It is terrifying, dangerous, and this sick fuck was 100% trying to plausibly murder her by doing this, no doubt.
Speed limits applied through the parental controls don’t take effect mid-drive. They only take effect once parked.
Still a pretty shitty situation to be put in.
