Wish you could start your car via your cell phone, but don't feel like ponying up the
$40k for a Chevrolet Volt or $499 (plus $29 a year) for an
aftermarket system from Viper? This hack from a guy named Dave will set you back considerably less, relying on a cheap prepaid cellphone that has had its vibration motor surgically removed, replaced by a couple of leads triggering the car's starter. Now, whenever the phone receives a call it starts up the car -- a somewhat dodgy proposition if a telemarketer ever gets hold of your number, but an interesting solution nonetheless. Dave is also excited about the prospect of setting on timers and alarms on the handset to auto-start the car at regular intervals, while we're excited about the total cost of the project: $71.03. Why, that's barely enough to cover the gas our big blue Excursion burns while warming up in the morning.
posted January 20th 2010 9:47AM
One thing that everyone seems to be overlooking is the long term cost. Yeah, prepaid cellphones are dirt cheap, but you have to continually put money on them or they get deactivated. The cheapest ones I've seen still cost around $120 to keep activated for a whole year, so you'd be better off getting a used Viper system or similar.