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A lot of used cars have something like this. I'm honestly more surprised OP apparently bought the car either sight unseen or without questioning this before sig

A lot of used cars have something like this. I'm honestly more surprised OP apparently bought the car either sight unseen or without questioning this before signing any paperwork.

toast0 2y ago
I've got something similar on a car I bought that was previously leased. I didn't notice it while doing the test drive, but it was almost certainly there the whole time. One day, I'll try to remove it, but afaik, it doesn't do much other than sit there. Maybe it drains the battery a bit, but I think the OEM modem was probably worse... I removed that recently because I was doing work that got me halfway to removal anyway.
ssl-3 2y ago
I bought a used van a few years ago at a strange time: I needed a particular kind of vehicle right away, and there broadly just weren't any at a reasonable price (because chip shortage, mostly). I spent a long time (several weeks) looking, and became increasingly frustrated with what would have normally been a simple process. When one showed up at a good local dealership, I bought it. I barely looked at it first. Unusual? Probably. But those were unusual times. Anyway, it had a small metal toggle switch mounted under the dash. The old-school kind, with the metal tag painted with red and black On/Off silkscreen. I never did figure out what it was for. I had a peek more than once (of course) to see what it connected to, but it was just a Siamese pair of wires that drifted off to unseeable areas. The only other modification I could find was a very neatly-installed remote starter. And that remote start box did have a switch input (for valet mode, whatever that means), but it was not connected. (It all got ruined in a crash a couple of months ago and the purpose of the switch shall thus remain a mystery.)
- spike021 2y ago
  Sometimes it's for a sound system or some other wired feature someone installs from aftermarket stuff. When they sell the car, it's easier to remove the added system and leave the switch.
  - ssl-3 2y ago
    That's pretty common, yeah. Or fog lights. Or (on VCM Hondas, such as this example) VCM foolers/defeats. I didn't ever find any evidence of aftermarket anything except for some suspension parts (new shocks/struts, tie rods, woot) and the remote starter. And...the switch. Given the fact that the vehicle is probably headed to China by now to make new cars out of, the switch will just have to remain strange and unknown.

A lot of used cars have something like this. I'm honestly more surprised OP apparently bought the car either sight unseen or without questioning this before signing any paperwork.

toast0 2y ago

I've got something similar on a car I bought that was previously leased. I didn't notice it while doing the test drive, but it was almost certainly there the whole time. One day, I'll try to remove it, but afaik, it doesn't do much other than sit there. Maybe it drains the battery a bit, but I think the OEM modem was probably worse... I removed that recently because I was doing work that got me halfway to removal anyway.

ssl-3 2y ago

I bought a used van a few years ago at a strange time: I needed a particular kind of vehicle right away, and there broadly just weren't any at a reasonable price (because chip shortage, mostly). I spent a long time (several weeks) looking, and became increasingly frustrated with what would have normally been a simple process. When one showed up at a good local dealership, I bought it. I barely looked at it first. Unusual? Probably. But those were unusual times. Anyway, it had a small metal toggle switch mounted under the dash. The old-school kind, with the metal tag painted with red and black On/Off silkscreen. I never did figure out what it was for. I had a peek more than once (of course) to see what it connected to, but it was just a Siamese pair of wires that drifted off to unseeable areas. The only other modification I could find was a very neatly-installed remote starter. And that remote start box did have a switch input (for valet mode, whatever that means), but it was not connected. (It all got ruined in a crash a couple of months ago and the purpose of the switch shall thus remain a mystery.)

spike021 2y ago
Sometimes it's for a sound system or some other wired feature someone installs from aftermarket stuff. When they sell the car, it's easier to remove the added system and leave the switch.
- ssl-3 2y ago
  That's pretty common, yeah. Or fog lights. Or (on VCM Hondas, such as this example) VCM foolers/defeats. I didn't ever find any evidence of aftermarket anything except for some suspension parts (new shocks/struts, tie rods, woot) and the remote starter. And...the switch. Given the fact that the vehicle is probably headed to China by now to make new cars out of, the switch will just have to remain strange and unknown.