Weird box under dash, can anyone ID?

[Lost Cosmonaut]

Hey all, I was just installing my Tazer Mini on my Mojave and noticed a strange box behind the OBD port. This Mojave was second hand 2020, but extremely low miles (about 5k). The box has a red and green light on it that blink periodically while the truck is off. The coiled up harness you see seems to lead from the OBD port to the box, and the box has 5 or 6 wires coming out the back and was zip tied in place. Can anyone ID what it could be? I can take out the zip ties and pull it down if it would help.

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[Wkyfiregladdy]

Looks like a tracker put on by dealership through required by a bank or something possibly could have been from first person or something done by financing or by chance from first or second dealership

 

[bkmarks]

+1 on above

 

[Benbean66]

Yes, it's a GPS tracker installed at the dealer. A lot of threads on here about them.

 

[869 KPH]

This kind of stuff makes me wonder how many people are being tracked and don't know. I airtagged my dog and feel great about it - but you could just as easily stick airtags on someone or their car and they likely wouldn't know it for a long time, if ever.

 

[Tokolosh]

This kind of stuff makes me wonder how many people are being tracked and don't know. I airtagged my dog and feel great about it - but you could just as easily stick airtags on someone or their car and they likely wouldn't know it for a long time, if ever.

Apparently Apple has built a feature that let’s you know there is an AirTag tracking you if it isn’t also paired with your Apple device. So hopefully somebody tagging your truck wouldn’t last too long.

As for tracking, our vehicle are already sending GBs of data to the manufacturers whether this dealer tracker is installed or not. There are some legislative fights going on around the USA to determine who owns control of our data but as of right now it is fed to the OEMs to do with as they please.

 

[Lost Cosmonaut]

Lol well we bought this truck outright, so it must have been from the previous owner. Any ideas on how I can get it out of there? It must just intercept and replace the OBD port from my reckoning?

 

[u-joint]

Lol well we bought this truck outright, so it must have been from the previous owner. Any ideas on how I can get it out of there? It must just intercept and replace the OBD port from my reckoning?

If it were me, I’d drive it back to the dealer and make it their problem. Especially so if you’re in a state that has a buyer’s remorse period.

 

[The Crusader]

This kind of stuff makes me wonder how many people are being tracked and don't know. I airtagged my dog and feel great about it - but you could just as easily stick airtags on someone or their car and they likely wouldn't know it for a long time, if ever.

I seriously thought about putting one of those on my soon to be exwife's truck, but decided it wasn't necessary.

 

[Wbrook24]

Definitely have the dealer remove it so if any electrical issues occur they can't blame you.

 

[Mr._Bill]

These are trackers put in by the dealer. The OBD port connection is to provide power to the device. Some are used for inventory management, some are part of a security add-on for the owner to locate the vehicle, and some are just there to locate the vehicle when it is time to repossess it.

 

[Mr._Bill]

This kind of stuff makes me wonder how many people are being tracked and don't know. I airtagged my dog and feel great about it - but you could just as easily stick airtags on someone or their car and they likely wouldn't know it for a long time, if ever.

I doubt that anyone is actively being tracked using one of these, unless they were a really high credit risk or are behind on their payments .

 

[Lost Cosmonaut]

So I pulled it out, it just had a OBD pass-through jumper and had two wires that came off for power. It’s a PASSTIME brand. Pretty sure it was for whoever owned the car before, probably financed or something so not too worried, at least now whatever bank owned it before can’t track me

Possibly it was for inventory management, I have my suspicions that my truck was a showroom car since it is a fully loaded (including several accessory options) Mojave and only had 5k miles when I bought it. It was also built in July 2020 and wasn’t registered until December 2020. I bought it from a Ford dealership and the box was “permanently mounted” (it was zip tied in and the OBD extension was installed into the OBD bracket so it looked factory) so I doubt it was their inventory management, but it could have been for the original selling dealer and they just forgot to take it out when it sold the first time.

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