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Mystery “unit” found..What is THIS?

ShadowsPapa

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A lof of those threads are not about the tracker. All though i have seen the threads on here about the tracker. My question would be why are they tracking customers?
https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/forum/threads/what-the-heck-is-this-mystery-device.33321/

https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/...s-footwell-green-led-light.44447/#post-716243

https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/...light-under-steering-wheel.33598/#post-544571

The existing threads DO cover multiple devices, one of them is quite long and covers at least 3 or 4 different devices.
No one is tracking customers - all of that was also discussed. Some are devices for theft recovery - it's not "tracking" it's FINDING. Dealers sometimes sell a theft recovery service with these - also covered in the other threads.

Here's some pictures from the 6 page long thread I might have started a couple of years ago - Look familiar? (link above, top link goes to that thread)

Jeep Gladiator Mystery “unit” found..What is THIS? mystery-device

Jeep Gladiator Mystery “unit” found..What is THIS? GPS-tracker-1

Jeep Gladiator Mystery “unit” found..What is THIS? 20200731_175421_HDR


Jeep Gladiator Mystery “unit” found..What is THIS? piggyback-3



looking for trackers before picking up my new JT.
Trackers? LOL - like "Big brother"? That's not what any of these really are.
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ShadowsPapa

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1996XJ

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https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/forum/threads/what-the-heck-is-this-mystery-device.33321/

https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/...s-footwell-green-led-light.44447/#post-716243

https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/...light-under-steering-wheel.33598/#post-544571

The existing threads DO cover multiple devices, one of them is quite long and covers at least 3 or 4 different devices.
No one is tracking customers - all of that was also discussed. Some are devices for theft recovery - it's not "tracking" it's FINDING. Dealers sometimes sell a theft recovery service with these - also covered in the other threads.

Here's some pictures from the 6 page long thread I might have started a couple of years ago - Look familiar? (link above, top link goes to that thread)

mystery-device.png

GPS-tracker-1.jpg

20200731_175421_HDR.jpg


piggyback-3.jpg




Trackers? LOL - like "Big brother"? That's not what any of these really are.
The ones that are not for theft recovery would cause me to ask what they are for. I was just pointing out all the threads that ask what is this had nothing to do with GPS trackers.
 

FREEZE451

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My point was more fun than serious, apologies. Lack of sleep with a 20 day old baby.

Also kind of funny that there were the same titled threads that typically have been about the question of, "what is this?".

However, I have seen the question many times, and seems like a dealership LoJack type of item.

Cut it out and keep on Jeepin'
 

Dqban

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It is a tracker! Dont believe its just a "finder". The instant anyone in the government tells a company to track you with it they will. Think thats harmless? Here is a related example of a harmless tracker that happened in real life.

A woman was killed. The police apprehended a suspect based on his iphones tracking. Specifically, the app on the phone that tracked his miles, calories and route. The problem, he had nothing to do with it but was deemed a suspect due to the fact his location pinged past her house 3 times that week....His jogging route. Horrible mistake, yes but, not unique or even rare.

anything that tracks you can be used against you, even if you are innocent of any crime and even if you put it there yourself......Your only defense is to be in control of the shit that tacks you. Your location data can also be monetized so there is incentive outside law enforcement.
Its not a problem for you, until it is.

The people responsible for abusing this tracking data are the same ones who are supposed to report the abuse so dont expect to here about it unless they are caught.
 

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In3briatedPanda

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i work at a dealership that installed these for a short time. It was marketed as 'we can MONITOR your vehicles maintenance records and reach out to you set up service.' LEXUS dealer btw.

it was just a fancy gps tracker and no way i want one on my car.

we did it for three months, then stopped, hopefully from consumer pushback.
 

dcmdon

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It is a tracker! Dont believe its just a "finder". The instant anyone in the government tells a company to track you with it they will. Think thats harmless? Here is a related example of a harmless tracker that happened in real life.

A woman was killed. The police apprehended a suspect based on his iphones tracking. Specifically, the app on the phone that tracked his miles, calories and route. The problem, he had nothing to do with it but was deemed a suspect due to the fact his location pinged past her house 3 times that week....His jogging route. Horrible mistake, yes but, not unique or even rare.

anything that tracks you can be used against you, even if you are innocent of any crime and even if you put it there yourself......Your only defense is to be in control of the shit that tacks you. Your location data can also be monetized so there is incentive outside law enforcement.
Its not a problem for you, until it is.

The people responsible for abusing this tracking data are the same ones who are supposed to report the abuse so dont expect to here about it unless they are caught.
Except that that capability is already built into your Jeep. Its got a GPS and a 4G cellular transceiver for telematics. With the right court order the Government can not only track your jeep, they can shut it down.

And people thought I was crazy when I posted a question about disabling this a couple of months ago. Whose car is it really?

I am currently rolling around in my head whether I want to disable the LTE transceiver or the GPS, since disabling either will solve the problem. My thought is that I'd re-enable it periodically for OTA updates. Or just let the dealer do them if that's possible. (Play dumb as to why they haven't happened). I'm not talking about anything significant. Just disconnecting the antenna or removing power if the transceiver is integrated into the antenna on the roll bar.

GPS is easy to "fail". Just put some foil over the antenna. The GPS signals are orders of magnitude weaker than LTE signals so it doesn't take much.
 

dcmdon

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There is nothing inherently nasty about these provided the dealer discloses its presence.

There are 2 use cases where they make sense.

1) Car is in dealer inventory. This reduces the risk of test drives and allows the dealer to not bother with getting copies of DLs and such. I went to a dealer to test drive a Mojave and he basically just tossed me the keys and said "have fun". I got curious and looked under the dash while out on the drive and sure enough there was a GPS plugged into the OBD2 port. (I assuming for constant 12 power).

2) your credit is marginal. Without the tracker you couldn't get a car loan. With it, you can. Leaving the tracker in place is a condition of the loan. Fully disclosed. This is not a bad thing.
 

chaosjake

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Trackers? LOL - like "Big brother"? That's not what any of these really are.
I'm the kind of person who leaves location services on my phone turned on all the time, so I don't really care about tracking, per se. But I trust Google or whoever to have good data security more than a shady car dealer trying to upsell a knockoff LoJack. How many of things have the unique IDs stored in clear text or in a database with the password PASSWORD 1234? Do you want the sales manager's creepy nephew to be able to light up this "finder" and find your wife or daughter when she's driving her Jeep?

Plus, I didn't want a hacked up wiring harness.
 

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TheSolarWizard

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A lof of those threads are not about the tracker. All though i have seen the threads on here about the tracker. My question would be why are they tracking customers?
tier one financing people dont have these. I’ll leave it at that
 

NachoRuby

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Except that that capability is already built into your Jeep. Its got a GPS and a 4G cellular transceiver for telematics. With the right court order the Government can not only track your jeep, they can shut it down.
Only if you have the 8.4" screen. My jeep is dumb. 7 inch and 5 inch don't get the telematics. It's on your phone too though, so there's no escape haha.
 

dcmdon

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Only if you have the 8.4" screen. My jeep is dumb. 7 inch and 5 inch don't get the telematics. It's on your phone too though, so there's no escape haha.
Have you looked at your roll bar?? I'd be surprised if it doesn't include GPS and telematics as is. You just dont' have access to it. Simply because GPS receivers cost pennies these days and it makes managing warranty costs easier for the manufacturer.
 

NachoRuby

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Have you looked at your roll bar?? I'd be surprised if it doesn't include GPS and telematics as is. You just dont' have access to it. Simply because GPS receivers cost pennies these days and it makes managing warranty costs easier for the manufacturer.
I have the GPS antenna, as it's combined with the SXM antenna. Not sure it has anything to talk to though, unless I upgrade radios. It has no brain. Now, I'm not a tinfoil hat person though. I just got the 7" radio because that's what was on the lot, and it was cheap.
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