Michael Hastings Car Crash Facts And Why I Don't Think He Was Murdered

She also said they hacked in through the bluetooth system and the onstar type connections. But maybe you just chose not to hear that part. I'm also sure he wasn't with his car 24/7. At any point anyone that wanted to could have accessed his vehicle.

The exact budgets of the various intelligence agencies are unknown but it is safe to assume that they are HUGE! Probably bigger than all university research budgets combined! Plus they have access to the universities research as well.

If an outside entity such as Onstar or Embrace has access to unlock doors, start or stop engines, etc.., then the door is open to wireless hacking of the systems. In addition, vehicles have multiple ports for diagnostics, not just one under the dash. A wireless module could be made to connect to one of these ports and attached without the drivers knowledge. Any devices could be removed later by an opperative. The LAPD is notoriously loaded with opperatives of the cen intel agncy.

With the smells of burning rubber, plastic, and journalist, the smell of small explosive charges could easily gone unnoticed.

Just other things to consider.

reply to post by Privateinquotations


Hacking into the bluetooth or telematics system is a reach. By any standard. Like she said it would have to open access to the CANbus. If you read the article about the university hacking then you know that regardless of the connection you can only have access to one computer at a time.

Originally posted by ShadellacZumbrum
My Opinion

I have done my very best to supply the facts that arte at hand. If you find something that appears to Not be fact then please by all means point it out so that it may be corrected.

A quick search of ebay has produced THOUSANDS of OBDII to both bluetooth and wifi adaptors... As a former electronics technician and semi professional racer who tunes A LOT of cars via OBDII and other forms of remote interfaces, I can safely say that gaining control a vehicle "illegaly" is easier than most would believe. As an example, I can change settings and input values on a car which is on the track from the pit area...
This is old technology and has been used in F1, LeMans, GT series and many, many forms of motorsport. The only thing that stops teams basically driving the cars from the pits is the rules.. Break the rules and you can do whatever you want... Makes you wonder about quite a few "High Profile" car accidents...


The university's article "and I use that term loosely" is very poorly researched and based on almost zero knowledge of modern car electronics...

reply to post by ShadellacZumbrum

I am curious what you think happened to Andrew Breitbart (and the Coroner while you are at it)........

On the other hand I have also demonstrated that there are possibilities other then murder that may have caused this.

reply to post by ShadellacZumbrum

Of course you have to have plausible deniability that is the whole MO of the people who would have done something such as this. Whether anyone thinks he was murdered or not it is still a possibility.

reply to post by Privateinquotations


I have not discounted that as a possibility. I am just saying that it was not likely.

In the end, if it was murder there is going to be some type of evidence. It just needs to be found,

Originally posted by CosmicCitizen
reply to post by ShadellacZumbrum

 

I am curious what you think happened to Andrew Breitbart (and the Coroner while you are at it)........

I don't even know who either of those people were.

Originally posted by peashooter
reply to post by smurfy

 

Considering it was a C250 (not a fast car, but not slow either) 0-60 is around 6-7 seconds.
To completely set the car on fire and throw the engine out you'd probably be flooring the accelerator for a good 10-15 seconds.. not to mention running a red light while doing so.. something was definitely wrong

Yes I know, I drive a fast car myself and in the mid range it is the moving acceleration, (kickdown) that is more important than the 0-60. on cars like that and mine it is very quick. The other thing that is curious is that this man Clark whatever, who said that it was an operation of some sort, also said that the FBI was not likely to have Hastings on tabs, simply because they said so. I presume that means they would rather say nothing at all, unless everything was completely coverered.

reply to post by peashooter


Wrong...... I had a jammed accellerator before, the brakes didn't even slow the car down. I had to switch to neutral, on some newer cars, you cannot manually shift to neutral at all like the older cars that are not run by computers..

I guess you've never heard of modern automobiles running wild in that some little something gets screwed up in the electronics and they go speeding down the road despite the best intentions of the hapless driver?

It if happens by malfunctions within the little black box in the vehicle, it can be caused to happen by other agents. We consumers are told some things about the little spying devices put into the more recent cars, such as when the brake was applied before the car had an accident. the speed, the gear, etc. They do a lot more these days than tell you that you need an oil change.

I frankly don't know whether he was murdered by a smart black box in the car or not. I tend to think not, but don't dismiss the possibility unless you are absolutely familiar with the electronic innards of that model Mercedes yourself--which I doubt. (Making that judgment would take an automotive electronic engineer familiar with that black box, and I'll bet all he could say would be, "Maybe possible with the right equipment."

reply to post by Aliensun


I added the except from the manual about the recording devices because I thought it was rather interesting that the EMBRACE System transmits all of the data in the event of an accident.

So, if none of the recorders were retrievable due to fire damage, they (investigators) would have the data to review.

Also, there was something in manual around the same area that says the information could be subpoenaed by a judge.

Originally posted by ShadellacZumbrum

Originally posted by CosmicCitizen
reply to post by ShadellacZumbrum

 

I am curious what you think happened to Andrew Breitbart (and the Coroner while you are at it)........

I don't even know who either of those people were.

Breibart had his own news website and died of what some say were mysterious circumstances. The Coronor who did the autopsy died of poisoning.

reply to post by Wewillrise77


I did not discount the fact that devices could in fact be plugged on to the OBD-II pass-through device. My point is that if there was a device plugged in there it would be noticeable as hell and the driver would investigate it immediately.

I also might add that I am certain the universities knowledge of the electronics is fairly up to date. Else, the would not have been able to hack it.

reply to post by Magister


Their budgets may be HUGE but that is because they are paying Everyone who has a part in it. You must consider that someone doing their internship is doing it for free.

Also, there may have been burning rubber and fuel but the smell of explosives is very distinct. Regardless of what other odors accompany it.

Originally posted by ShadellacZumbrum
reply to post by Wewillrise77

 

I did not discount the fact that devices could in fact be plugged on to the OBD-II pass-through device. My point is that if there was a device plugged in there it would be noticeable as hell and the driver would investigate it immediately.

I also might add that I am certain the universities knowledge of the electronics is fairly up to date. Else, the would not have been able to hack it.

What makes you think the device would be so large and noticeable? Ever seen one of the wireless internet usb slot cards? They were small years ago and computer components are always getting smaller and more powerful. I don't care about what one university said they can do with it, DARPA is way ahead of any university in R&D.

Can you even over ride the mechnical systems of this car?

If it doesn't have parking assist there is no connection To the steering and braking system outside of driver inputs, it's a mechanical linkage with no computers and servos outside of sensors that measure various systems.

All modern Mercedes have fly by wire throttles controlled by a computer interpretting the drivers inputs on the gas pedal, they have no mechanical connection to the engine, I guess that could be overridden if the systems are able to be intercepted, which I don't think they can. They are closed systems.

Maybe they created a scenario like speed. If he didn't maintain a certain speed a bomb would go off Or maybe they installed a mechanical device to make his accelerator stick after it's pressed so far and a bomb/incendiary device planted that was rigged to explode on impact.

You said he liked drugs or whatever, maybe he was given that exotic drug that makes the user do whatever they are told, and he was told floor it into a tree.

There's literally a million scenarios that could have happened, they don't need to control the car remotely to do any number of things. It's as easy as swapping out a mechanical part and the car can seriously malfunction.

or.. maybe he was just drunk... but the e-mail to the lawyer is oddly timed

Hey OP I want to commend you on a great thread. I think even those who vehemently disagree with your takeaway probably feel the same. Well written and researched, and well spaced.

A few questions I was left with after reading.

1.) How did the engine and tranny get thrown so far? When I'm looking at the damage to the car it looks like it hit in the center of the bumper, the rear wheels came up and the roof got smashed. If anything I would think the engine would be pushed rearward. I understand that when something stops quick, it things go forward, but if they've just been slammed I don't think they're going anywhere.

2.) Regarding the witnesses saying the guy was going at a high rate of speed. How reliable are they? I know that witnesses are notoriously unreliable, and I don't think most people are capable of judging speeds very well.

3.) You say explosives have a very distinct smell. I personally wouldn't recognize an odd smell, and would attribute anything weird to the flaming car. Also on this note, how do we know that someone didn't put a gas bomb somewhere in the car, the guy freaked out when the interior started burning and crashed because of that? No need for anything fancy.

4.) OBDII sensor. I'm sure you can hit that under the hood if you know what you're doing. You could have something plugged in and run wires somewhere else without arousing driver suspicion.

5.) Car hacking. I highly doubt that you are unable to shift into neutral or pull the e-brake if the cars computer is compromised. To me this seems very far fetched. It also seems like a really stupid plan for a group smart enough to pull it off. I would think they could come up with something better.

6.) Floor mats. Again, unless you are completely wasted (it sounds like that is a distinct possibility) you're going to pop the car into neutral, or pull the e-brake, or SOMETHING.

7.) He drove like a Grandma. There are a lot of people that think I drive like a Grandma, and often I do. Every once in awhile I get a speed bug crawling up my ass and open up my car though.

8.) The car. It's not a fast car. 0-60 in 6.9 seconds is not very quick. He would have had to be flogging it, and I bet there are going to be videos of that.

9.) The sheer dumbassery of killing a guy that was talking about hacking into cars by hacking into his car.

10.) How mentally sound was this guy? If he was suicidal and had deep convictions, isn't this death a perfect way to get people talking?

A few of those are questions to the OP, and a few (majority) support the OP.

I'm going to read more about it, but it seems to me the guy was under a fair amount of stress, and that most likely fueled his addictions and he ended up driving tanked and on coke. My understanding is that mixture can easily lead to a person feeling invincible and driving like a maniac. I think this is the most likely scenario.

After watching that video of the car burning (I was moved by the Jewish man trying to put the fire out) I'm going to go buy some fire extinguishers for my baby.

Also, I love driving a manual.

Let me pick at this because agreeing is too easy.

Conspiracy Theory is defined as:
A belief that some covert, but influential, organization is responsible for an unexplained event. Moreover Conspiracy Theories are built on a Lack of Facts.

I don't agree. A theory has data to go along with it. There are facts, and then there are factoids which look factly but they might not be supportive. Otherwise, wouldn't it be a conspiracy hypothesis? It doesn't have to be covert or influential or even an organization. It could be two dudes who decide to do something.

About the car hacking, Richard Clarke can say what he wants. I know for certain the CIA has done car sabotage before; former CIA operatives admitted to doing so, in a way that even inspired a Hollywood movie that recreated a scene, using their advice. They hotwired a car, made in the 70s-90s, to hijack it like a radio controlled vehicle so when the driver was on a busy street; they made an accident. It's not stupid, just evil. I wish I had the name of the action movie that had their admitting that tactic but it escapes me now. It worked on older cars; it can work on the newer ones as well.

The gov't wouldn't do OBD these days; they would replace the radio in a moment when the driver wasn't watching the vehicle (true story last year I was being investigate-chased on the fly ((hi AP BoD, trying to act invisible, running off in the parking garage)) for God knows what on a holiday weekend, and before the investigation, old radio code on my clunker, and after, new radio code, hmm -- well what can you do with sneaky intel people with loud walkie talkies talking about gift card in my glove box in the wall behind the hotel room bathroom? Can I even take a poop in peace when I'm on a vacation from the investigators? And the Rand people with the coat signals and the FBI undercover agent who was posing as the sushi restaurant waiter, asking me if I've ever left the country, and the freaking snipers in DC waiting to peg the tourist with the bottle of water in the bag, you guys are paranoid, overpaid and underworked. Aaaarugh. I want my old radio back I swear they're after the conspiracy theorists online first) . Within the radio could be all sorts of interesting things, and it takes about 10 seconds to switch. You say they would have an odor, but maybe they smell like auto fluids or burnt leather seats, because everything in that vehicle was burning. How many stories about organized crime involve an exploding vehicle? I've only read one but it's more than enough.

I don't think anybody on the planet would think, hey let's pull the fuses to stop the vehicle. That's fantasizing, so rare that it's easier to emergency brake and hit other cars, swerve to flip the vehicle.

Okay so it's said he was a drinker and a drug addict. Someone could have put something in his drink or he got some bad whatever stuff. Toxicology reports can be faked too.