The new Honda Accord is packed with internet-enabled features ripe for hacking, but the brand believes its new flagship is not at risk of digital intrusion.
The 11th generation Honda Accord arrives in Australia with a wealth of features never seen before in the local lineup, such as: B. Google Built-in, an integrated Telstra SIM card and the most comprehensive connected services features yet.
The latter includes, among many other features, the ability to unlock, start and drive the Accord without a physical key, with owners able to access these controls via the Honda Connect smartphone application.
However, systems like these in other cars have proven flaws that tech-savvy hackers can exploit, which in some cases can lead to the car being stolen.
Speaking at the launch of the new Accord, Arjun Nidigallu, senior product planner at Honda Australia, said the brand had drawn on lessons learned from other markets to protect the flagship sedan as best as possible.
“We take privacy and security very seriously and have been part of our evaluation of this product for several years,” Mr Nidigallu told the assembled media.
“We have learned many lessons from the similar products we have launched in other countries, namely Indonesia and Malaysia. We’ve had the products in the UK and US for a while now, so we’ve taken all of these cues and come up with smart solutions for them.
“For example, the car reminds you every month to submit the mileage in the Connect app, so we know you still physically own the vehicle. This is how we make sure we minimize the risk of someone getting into the car.”
Jon Young Flores, Telstra’s head of agribusiness, manufacturing, logistics and retail, said Accord owners will benefit from the telecoms giant’s extensive security network.
“At Telstra we have what we call our Cleaner Pipes initiative. “It is a level of security across our entire mobile network where we constantly scan for and monitor for threats and attacks that may attempt to bring down the network or prevent me from attempting to access the network,” said Mr. Young Flores.
“[The] “Cleaner Pipes” initiatives would be almost like a roof that would benefit the Honda experience.”
Despite being Australia’s largest telecommunications company by a wide margin, Telstra has managed to avoid major hacking scandals in the recent past, unlike Optus, which suffered a breach of 10 million customers’ data in 2022.
MORE: Everything Honda Accord