What the heck is this?!?!

[Gman]

Why they can’t get the same info from Uconnect is the only question that puzzles me. FCA likely locks dealerships out of global access to that data.

And for good reason.

 

[surfingcrna]

No speculation necessary, all you have to do is watch this video all the way through to get it. Many versions of the same thing are out there but the result is the same.

Why they can’t get the same info from Uconnect is the only question that puzzles me. FCA likely locks dealerships out of global access to that data so they had to come up with some other scheme to roll their own.

Unless your video is different than the one I watched from the link, it does not show that box. It shows what their system does, but doesn't show any hardware. So you are assuming that the box does that, and that the box has no other purpose the vehicle uses it for. Doesn't seem impossible that the same information comes from the uConnect system, or another module somewhere inside the car/truck.

 

[pber1]

I was plugging in my Hypertech calibrator and found it under the driver side dash next to a fuse box! It’s a gps tracker that monitors just about everything. It monitors speed, location, you can kill the ignition, some can unlock doors and you can set up a geofence so if you leave the area it’ll slowly shut down the truck! It’s even controlled through an app just like Uconnect!

 

[Gondul]

FWIW, I didn't see anything under my dash... maybe it depends on the state?

@pber1 and @djwdjw live in border states... where do you live @Lbdyll ?

 

[surfingcrna]

I'll take a look. Hoping to find a missing winning powerball ticket though instead of that

 

[Doc]

I'll take a look. Hoping to find a missing winning powerball ticket though instead of that

If you find the ticket under your dash, please consider new Rams for all your friends here!

 

[pber1]

Yeah man it’s probably the border state thing and it kinda makes sense since I bought the truck in San Diego! I’ve never put so much money into any vehicle so I can sleep easier knowing it’ll get found faster should anyone ever try to take it!

 

[Gondul]

I lived in AZ for a bit... cars getting stolen and driven south happened *all the time*.

Still, the dealer should still let people know the thing is installed if it isn't on a sticker or paperwork... install without notification is kinda of a crappy move...

 

[pber1]

I lived in AZ for a bit... cars getting stolen and driven south happened *all the time*.

Still, the dealer should still let people know the thing is installed if it isn't on a sticker or paperwork... install without notification is kinda of a crappy move...

Yeah man I feel you! I’m pissed that I wasn’t told in advance and had to stumble upon it myself. But at the same time glad they went the extra mile to insure recovery of the pick should anything ever happen.

 

[go-ram]

No speculation necessary, all you have to do is watch this video all the way through to get it. Many versions of the same thing are out there but the result is the same.

Why they can’t get the same info from Uconnect is the only question that puzzles me. FCA likely locks dealerships out of global access to that data so they had to come up with some other scheme to roll their own.

I wonder what the guy talking about the six vehicles stolen from them, at t=4:09 in the video, means by "we had the keyless entry issues". I assume that means some hackers had a bootleg electronic device(s) that can easily unlock & start any vehicle with keyless entry, allowing them to easily swipe six vehicles at one time?

 

[Old Ray]

..... to insure recovery of the pick should anything ever happen.

Recovery for them..... or for you, ...............they never told you that it was there ?

 

[Gondul]

Hacking the keyless entry isn't a huge problem and rather inexpensive apparently...

JUST A PAIR OF THESE $11 RADIO GADGETS CAN STEAL A CAR

STEALING CARS FOR 20 BUCKS

 

[djwdjw]

Hacking the keyless entry isn't a huge problem and rather inexpensive apparently.

Sounds like turning off passive entry is smart if there is anything of value in your truck.

 

[djwdjw]

If you spend the time to do a bit of googling and research, you find the 2017+ plethora of OBD-connected passive trackers put on by the dealers is just the another dealer profit center like window tint, VIN etching, paint protection, etc. But a little creepier since there is always a data push going somewhere.

This has nothing to do with the old sub-prime buy-here-pay-here lenders, this is the new factory dealership scheme and the box, in my case, can’t do anything but track itself. Nothing to do with the old lo-jack stuff either. This one's a different, newer scheme.

For those that aren’t aware, for the last 5+ years you have been able to buy your own personal OBD-connected tracker for teen/silver monitoring or whatever you want for a few bucks and a small monthly fee. They’re everywhere from, from Amazon, Target, Best Buy, etc.

https://www.bouncie.com/

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/automa...with-diagnostics-gold/5578713.p?skuId=5578713

https://gotrack.com/

https://vyncs.com/

The list goes on and on. But this tracking relationship is between you and who provides the service. No surprises.

Insurance companies got on board and started branding their OBD trackers too, to provide themselves with your tracking information (i.e. big data) in order to "tailor their rates to your habits".

https://www.progressive.com/auto/discounts/snapshot/

https://www.allstate.com/drive-wise.aspx

This tracking relationship is understood between you and the insurance company. Nobody is completely unaware.

The dealerships have a need to track their cars since they often seem to barely be able to know where anything is at the best of times. In the last year or so they’ve gotten wind of the cheap tracker technology and bury these trackers on every car they have to be able to track them and it costs them nothing. Apex is one that was on my truck (there are many vendors in this market now doing similar) and the entire Apex Protect is owned by a big dealership network, a fact they don’t advertise and try to keep quiet. They track their own cars before the sell them. It costs them nothing because, like window tinting, VIN etching and this “theft protection system”, they peddle the entire cost on to buyers at a many times their actual cost. The dealership that sold me the truck wanted $1400 for essentially a < $100 tracker and gave me 5 years of “free service" (and they get 5 years of data presumably). I paid nothing for it and it was still stuck on my truck. I removed it and stuck it on my desk.

I consider the example video posted earlier to be mostly marketing bs (I hope you don't believe that bs either) and like most marketing bs, probably little of it is fact and most made up to sell the message, but the part that is fact is that the chain of dealers doing that is indeed putting it on every new car on the lot, selling the cars with a tracker of dubious consumer value (given Uconnect’s+Sirius Guardian's completely overlapping functionality), and making a profit. That’s what dealers are about – making a profit using every tool in the tool box. Many dealers are quite happy to sell anything, including things of dubious consumer value. And I would say the average buyer is clueless about any tracker gizmo technology, what it is, where it is, or how to remove it – that’s the part that makes it a little creepy.

I suppose you could get wound up about being tracked by these dealer-installed devices, but everything these days is tracking you and everyone wants the big data. I think the dealers are treading a fine line (legally/ethically) here and may get some push back someday in states or jurisdictions that frown on this kind of stuff. But many dealership practices already tread a fine line on ethical or professional behavior in many other ways if you read reports here and elsewhere.

 

[Gondul]

I suppose you could get wound up about being tracked somewhere, but everything these days is tracking you and everyone wants the big data.

Could? Every time you use your card to pull money or pay for lunch... if your phone is on, you are being tracked. In these instances you know you are being tracked... having them hide a tracker is a crappy move.

I'll look under the dash again tomorrow, but I didn't see anything when I looked earlier.

 

[pber1]

I wonder what the guy talking about the six vehicles stolen from them, at t=4:09 in the video, means by "we had the keyless entry issues". I assume that means some hackers had a bootleg electronic device(s) that can easily unlock & start any vehicle with keyless entry, allowing them to easily swipe six vehicles at one time?

I’ve seen videos of people doing funky stuff with devices and stealing cars without the keys or damaging anything!

 

[pber1]

Recovery for them..... or for you, ...............they never told you that it was there ?

Bro!

 

[pber1]

If you spend the time to do a bit of googling and research, you find the 2017+ plethora of OBD-connected passive trackers put on by the dealers is just the another dealer profit center like window tint, VIN etching, paint protection, etc. But a little creepier since there is always a data push going somewhere.

This has nothing to do with the old sub-prime buy-here-pay-here lenders, this is the new factory dealership scheme and the box, in my case, can’t do anything but track itself. Nothing to do with the old lo-jack stuff either. This one's a different, newer scheme.

For those that aren’t aware, for the last 5+ years you have been able to buy your own personal OBD-connected tracker for teen/silver monitoring or whatever you want for a few bucks and a small monthly fee. They’re everywhere from, from Amazon, Target, Best Buy, etc.

https://www.bouncie.com/

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/automa...with-diagnostics-gold/5578713.p?skuId=5578713

https://gotrack.com/

https://vyncs.com/

The list goes on and on. But this tracking relationship is between you and who provides the service. No surprises.

Insurance companies got on board and started branding their OBD trackers too, to provide themselves with your tracking information (i.e. big data) in order to "tailor their rates to your habits".

https://www.progressive.com/auto/discounts/snapshot/

https://www.allstate.com/drive-wise.aspx

This tracking relationship is understood between you and the insurance company. Nobody is completely unaware.

The dealerships have a need to track their cars since they often seem to barely be able to know where anything is at the best of times. In the last year or so they’ve gotten wind of the cheap tracker technology and bury these trackers on every car they have to be able to track them and it costs them nothing. Apex is one that was on my truck (there are many vendors in this market now doing similar) and the entire Apex Protect is owned by a big dealership network, a fact they don’t advertise and try to keep quiet. They track their own cars before the sell them. It costs them nothing because, like window tinting, VIN etching and this “theft protection system”, they peddle the entire cost on to buyers at a many times their actual cost. The dealership that sold me the truck wanted $1400 for essentially a < $100 tracker and gave me 5 years of “free service" (and they get 5 years of data presumably). I paid nothing for it and it was still stuck on my truck and I stuck it on my desk.

I consider the example video posted earlier to be mostly marketing bs (I hope you don't believe that bs either) and like most marketing bs, probably little of it is fact and most made up to sell the message, but the part that is fact is that the chain of dealers doing that is indeed putting it on every new car on the lot, selling the cars on with a tracker of dubious consumer value (given Uconnect’s overlapping features), and making a profit. That’s what they’re about – making a profit using every tool in the tool box. And I would say the average buyer is clueless about all of it – that’s the part that makes it a little creepy.

I suppose you could get wound up about being tracked somewhere, but everything these days is tracking you and everyone wants the big data.

The truck is mine, not the dealer’s or the bank’s and I ripped the dealer for not telling me or giving me access to the data. At the end of the day it’s something that benefits me and as of today I’m the only with access to the data the tracker has through the app.

 

[meltedcheez]

The truck is mine, not the dealer’s or the bank’s and I ripped the dealer for not telling me or giving me access to the data. At the end of the day it’s something that benefits me and as of today I’m the only with access to the data the tracker has through the app.

A theft deterrent system was on my truck at purchase but I didn't know about it (I also didn't pay for it). I drove the truck home and later hopped in to go to dinner...nothing. The truck wouldn't turn on. They forgot to disable the system before I drove it off the lot. The problem was I live 40 miles away from the dealer I bought it from. I had to wait an hour and a half for the salesman who sold me the truck to drive over and disable it. He also told me they did the same thing to someone who bought a car earlier in the day. Pretty frustrating. I have yet to peak behind it and see if it is a GPS tracker as well. I will do that tonight.

 

[MachineX]

Do you have anything plugged in your OBD port or is it just to the side out of the way? Also check if there is an extension dongle so your port it 'available' and an addons is hanging out sending your data to the cloud. Can you send a pic of your port close up and further back?