“The of course there are “malfunctions” common to every device on a modern automobile.”
They could actually wire them so if not operating the car will not start. But whatever, there would be ways to bypass them.
I think the only way to avoid it, would be to replace most of the electronics in the car, which is normally impractical.
Nissan’s GTR has a nanny box already. Nissan can choose not to honor the warranty on the car if you tamper with it, and it is checked religiously at every car service.
The box checks things like RSA signature on security devices, engine control firmware and settings tables, ABS firmware, airbag, etc.
As far as I know, the only way around the thing at this point, is to ditch the stock electronics.
The thing even knows if the chips were modded, then replaced with the original firmware for service.
It also records abusive driving, such as high RPM shifting, etc.
I love Nissan vehicles, but I would not set foot in a GTR unless I was so wealthy I could have it fixed without warranty without really caring about the expenditure.
BTW, they can also tell if the box was removed from the car and swapped with a stand in -— two ways, the car won’t run anyway if the stock ECM is in place, and the box itself will detect the inconsistency once it is re-established in the car’s system for the return to the service dept. (this is easy to do using sequence codes and RSA hashes).