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I had a mystery tracker installed in a car I purchased as well: https://fccid.io/2AEB4AMV01/User-Manual/Users-Manual-3928375 https://fccid.io/2AEB4AMV01/User-Ma

by jmole 5y ago

I had a mystery tracker installed in a car I purchased as well: https://fccid.io/2AEB4AMV01/User-Manual/Users-Manual-3928375 https://fccid.io/2AEB4AMV01/User-Manual/Users-Manual-3928375 The dealer even added a $250 fee to "remove" this device, but I found it was still installed, so I think I ended up footing the bill for the device itself. The device is ostensibly to protect inventory from loss, but it seems like they are incentivizing dealers to leave these in cars to capture location data, for whatever reason.

willcipriano 5y ago
Is that legal? Its one thing to have a tracker installed and bury the notification in the terms and conditions, it's another entirely to charge someone to remove the tracker and then track them surreptitiously with it. At very least I feel like they owe you $250 for services not rendered.
- danuker 5y ago
  It's not. It's fraud. If you pursue this in small claims court, make sure to include the paid equivalent of time off from work you needed to deal with the matter.
brettnak 5y ago
Where did you find the tracker in the car?
- jmole 5y ago
  Connected to the OBD port with an OBD splitter to make it look like there was nothing installed there. They didn’t secure it well though, so I saw it dangling by the brake pedal. https://imgur.com/a/MSGmfRt https://imgur.com/a/MSGmfRt
  - sva_ 5y ago
    You paid $250 to get that device removed? Did you try just unplugging it?!
  - avalys 5y ago
    Is that necessarily to “make sure there was nothing installed there”? Or could it be that they needed to keep the OBD port open for normal service purposes?
    - jmole 5y ago
      Yes, for the marketed use case of "put these on the cars in your lot for theft prevention", you obviously want them to be invisible. But Honda already has telematics in these cars in the infotainment system, and it would be trivial to add anti-theft to the existing system. It all just feels a bit.. fishy.
  - adolph 5y ago
    It actually says “Designed in California,” like it’s a shiney iThing.
    - userbinator 5y ago
      iKnowWhereYouAre
wallfacer120 5y ago
Who is "they"?
- mkhpalm 5y ago
  The car dealerships put these things on cars in the event that you finance through them. They are able to make you pay for the device they use to track down vehicles they want to repo. Since they splice into the harness and it takes time to get back in there its actually more problematic to remove than to just leave it. You're paying for it, one way or another.
  - jmole 5y ago
    Not spliced, they used a splitter with an OBD port on either side. I did finance through my own bank though, which might explain the "removal fee".
    - Hamuko 5y ago
      If these things connect to the OBD port, aren't they basically trivial to find and uninstall yourself?
      - londons_explore 5y ago
        They're normally wired in somewhere behind the glovebox or steering column, and can be pretty hard to find. I had one on a car I bought, and it kept draining the car battery whenever I left it more than a few days. I wasted many hours buying new batteries, testing alternators, and tracking down leakage currents before finding it consuming nearly a watt continuously.
        Hamuko 5y ago
        Do they split the OBD signal behind the glovebox or the steering column? If so, then I imagine they're much harder to find. But if they do it on the actual OBD2 port, then I imagine they would be rather easy to spot?

by jmole 5y ago

willcipriano 5y ago

Is that legal? Its one thing to have a tracker installed and bury the notification in the terms and conditions, it's another entirely to charge someone to remove the tracker and then track them surreptitiously with it. At very least I feel like they owe you $250 for services not rendered.

danuker 5y ago
It's not. It's fraud. If you pursue this in small claims court, make sure to include the paid equivalent of time off from work you needed to deal with the matter.

brettnak 5y ago

Where did you find the tracker in the car?

jmole 5y ago
Connected to the OBD port with an OBD splitter to make it look like there was nothing installed there. They didn’t secure it well though, so I saw it dangling by the brake pedal. https://imgur.com/a/MSGmfRt https://imgur.com/a/MSGmfRt
- sva_ 5y ago
  You paid $250 to get that device removed? Did you try just unplugging it?!
- avalys 5y ago
  Is that necessarily to “make sure there was nothing installed there”? Or could it be that they needed to keep the OBD port open for normal service purposes?
  - jmole 5y ago
    Yes, for the marketed use case of "put these on the cars in your lot for theft prevention", you obviously want them to be invisible. But Honda already has telematics in these cars in the infotainment system, and it would be trivial to add anti-theft to the existing system. It all just feels a bit.. fishy.
- adolph 5y ago
  It actually says “Designed in California,” like it’s a shiney iThing.
  - userbinator 5y ago
    iKnowWhereYouAre

wallfacer120 5y ago

Who is "they"?

mkhpalm 5y ago
The car dealerships put these things on cars in the event that you finance through them. They are able to make you pay for the device they use to track down vehicles they want to repo. Since they splice into the harness and it takes time to get back in there its actually more problematic to remove than to just leave it. You're paying for it, one way or another.
- jmole 5y ago
  Not spliced, they used a splitter with an OBD port on either side. I did finance through my own bank though, which might explain the "removal fee".
  - Hamuko 5y ago
    If these things connect to the OBD port, aren't they basically trivial to find and uninstall yourself?
    - londons_explore 5y ago
      They're normally wired in somewhere behind the glovebox or steering column, and can be pretty hard to find. I had one on a car I bought, and it kept draining the car battery whenever I left it more than a few days. I wasted many hours buying new batteries, testing alternators, and tracking down leakage currents before finding it consuming nearly a watt continuously.
      - Hamuko 5y ago
        Do they split the OBD signal behind the glovebox or the steering column? If so, then I imagine they're much harder to find. But if they do it on the actual OBD2 port, then I imagine they would be rather easy to spot?