Why isn't there a kill switch on vehicles?

originally posted by: minusinfinity
What would ISIS do if they couldn’t drive the tank?

Bypass the kill switch.

originally posted by: ~Lucidity

originally posted by: rickymouse
Seems to me we should be taking that expensive equipment back with us when we leave. I suppose it is the taxpayers money, they don't care.

Most of that equipment had it's toll taken on it by the conditions there, for which a lot of it wasn't all that well-suited to beging with. It would have cost us more to transport it that it's worth.

As for a kill switch for it? Some was left for the Iraqi military and law enforcement, and some should we need it in Afghanistan or other areas of that region again.

What's the issue here?

As for kill switches law enforcement uses, why did you put "innocent" in quotes? I'm confused.

Well, now that ISIS has it, I figure it will cost us a lot more than it did to take it away.

a reply to: rickymouse
Mmhmm...and that's a whole other discussion. That's been had. They've been telling us from day 1 that the Iraqi forces we trained were abandoning or laying down their weapons and who was picking them up.

all the more reason to drive an older DIESEL getaway car hey people....

There are many ways to disable an engine.
Pop a couple of .50 caliber rounds into the block.
Dump sugar into the fuel tank and let it idle.
Ignite a brick of thermite on the heads.
It's not rocket science.

Not kill switche's but for damn sure a "mute button".a reply to: beezzer

they do have this tech, and it is already in use on newer american, or maybe just gm, made vehicles.

www.switched.com...

What I really mean is, Analogue is more robust than Digital.

a reply to: skunkape23

Not if they attach a TOMBSTONE.

Does anyone have a source about leaving military equipment. DoD requires mutilation for the goodstuff... so, where's the link.

I do not recall exactly what was left behind, but I would be a lot more worried about the offensive weapons as opposed to the vehicles. I suppose you can make technicals from vehicles, and there might even be some US vehicles left behind with turrets, so you would call some vehicles offensive weapons as opposed to logistical or support vehicles. Anyway...I know there were howitzers, artillery, left behind, but you have to realize that the US military didn't just leave this stuff for ISIS to come and pick up. This materiel was left for the Iraqi military. When they turned tail and ran away they left all this equipment to ISIS. I'm sure they acquired it in a couple of other ways as well, but most of it was probably captured.

A kill switch on a vehicle seems like a good idea for being able to disable any vehicles that have fallen into enemy hands, or cannot be accounted for, but this would not be a tactical tool by any means. What I mean is that without knowing exactly where each vehicle was located at a specific time, being able to kill it at the most opportune time, say when being used to flee an incoming airstrike, would be extremely difficult and costly. And acquiring and maintaining a clear strategic or tactical picture of all such equipment would be somewhat difficult as well. Just outfitting vehicles with a kill switch and gps would be costly. Again, I do not know how many vehicles were left behind, or what types of vehicles, but I'm sure ISIS will put to use anything they've captured. So if switches were to be implemented like this, they would likely be only to disengage a vehicle that was unaccounted for, and nothing else.

But another problem is the fact that you would most likely have to be within the vicinity to trip the switch anyway. A switch that could be tripped from across the globe would require a signal and special equipment, which would be even more costly. I just do not think the US military would have spent the money to do something like this.

I think their equivalent of a kill switch is either an EMP or a boom. Well, actually I don't think they really use them very often, as current events prove.

a reply to: minusinfinity

Power brakes and power steering don't work when the engine has stopped, it makes the car a danger, and the police would have to be very careful.

Add a GPS tracker unit and if captured just pick out the GPS location and dial it into a GPS guided bomb.

Likely you will get a number of the bad guys for every one you hit.

Wouldn't a hardened criminal be very passive aggressive about the car being disabled and, knowing the car will cease to function as intended immediately or soon afterwards, decide to swerve right into a group of pedestrians passed the disabling device and then say "I had no control over the car, it was the cops that killed those four ppl your honor". And it will be very hard to disprove his theory plus a public outcry over the devices with the cops looking like the bad guys if they downplay the devices as "not dangerous" insisting they still be used.