Power Outage Short Circuits Mazda’s Remote Start System

The new remote start feature Mazda Motor Corp. launched last month is temporarily down due to a power outage at a supplier's data center, reports The Truth About Cars.

The online publication says Mazda notified owners of vehicles equipped with the system late last week and expects to have the system working again by Wednesday. The problem affected Mazda's Web site and smartphone applications for the feature, which allows a motorist to remotely start his or her car. The situation isn't a security breach and didn't result in any loss of customer data, according to the report. Last month a security expert demonstrated the vulnerability of remote start systems by hacking into General Motors' OnStar RemoteLink Service.