It's a common practice and nothing to get worked up about. Contact the company on the label and see if there is an active subscription.
GPS TrackerI am trying to install the AEV Procal Snap. When I pulled the OBD port it didnt look like instructions. Looking further back it looks like a splitter was installed to original port. Does anyone know if this is factory or after market? I bought a 2021 Mojave edition. I dont see anything that looks aftermarket on the gladiator but this and dont know what it is for.
When I wiggled and tried to pull apart everything on the inside power wise jumped on and off. So afraid to mess with it till I know what it is. Not sure if you can tell anything by these pics. But it looks like the zip tied item is what is hooked to the OBD port.
It is pretty common on modern vehicles that the sub-dash frame assemblies, brackets and crash bars under the dash are left bare metal. The vehicle will be in the crusher for other reasons before any rust in those areas is of any detriment.
There was one on each of the Jeeps we bought from our dealer as they usually try to upsell you with theft tracking services.
I found it funny that when I got into the office of the finance guy where they like to sell you more stuff - the guy knew us well as customers. He got to certain line items and automatically crossed them off "you guys won't want this" and "I'm pretty sure you won't need this" and so on. I actually laughed - are we that easy to predict?
After learning here what it was, I did a google search and found another thread a few years back. May have been yours.
If you want more, I have two of them in my shop in my electronic parts cabinet. I took one from my 2020 and the other from my 2022 JT and I need to pull the one out of my wife's Wrangler. The SIM cards are too big to work in anything else, otherwise I was going to hijack some bandwidth LOL
Mine is in the electronic junk parts box that I occasionally cannibalize parts out of. Say, if I need a small length of green or red coated copper wire, I’ll snip off from these junk parts.
Uconnect doesn't actively track you. It regularly uploads telemetry data to the servers that includes the current location. If you want access to the data so the vehicle can be tracked, or the ability to request the current location, you have to pay for a Guardian subscription.
The dealers add the trackers for multiple reasons. It helps with inventory control, and keeps insurance costs down by being able to locate stolen vehicles. It costs them more to remove it than they paid for the device. It also gives them the opportunity to make additional money by selling the security services. Some people like to be able to track where the vehicle is, and not every truck is equipped with a cellular capable head unit.
I care more about the parasitic draw on the battery that these GPS trackers have, when the vehicle is turned off and parked. Thats the main reason why I ripped it out of my truck.
That is a legitimate concern, but the draw from these is not enough to really be an issue. I didn't remove mine because of the way it was tapped into the wiring harness behind the OBD port. I didn't want to risk any additional damage to the wiring.
