What is this? Mystery box on used Rubicon.

[AmishMike]

How many pages will THIS well-worn subject run to?

It's okay, let them hang at the Sports Bar.
(headed back to the pub)

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[Shopshirt]

Nice! the OG Poster.

 

[heftysmurf]

I noticed it on mine last weekend. Looks like I'm pulling it this weekend. Any wires to cut? I didn't look too deep...just should plug in/unplug...right?

 

[AXISJT]

You can take it out. No big deal. Most just plug in as a piggyback or inline of the OBD port cable.
Mine came unstrapped and dropped by my left foot. I got home and took it out. I still have it in a cabinet, no idea why, I guess I'm a hoarder or something.

Agreed, there's at least 4 of these threads, maybe others I've not seen, that need to be merged into one, or at least daisy-chained together.

If you can unplug the charger cable from your phone, or connect your phone USB to the truck, you can probably remove these as you have the skill ;-)

I told them to because they were trying to charge me for it

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I told them to because they were trying to charge me for it

The goofy thing is that they apparently buy so many of these that they can simply leave them in place if they don't sell the recovery package (or anti-theft, whatever that dealer is selling)
Mine was in place, there was never even any discussion of anything because I had the thing ordered and the price and options already set. There's a number of those devices hanging around under dashes with no "Service" sold to use it.
So I'd say it looks like they install them on all or most, try to sell the service and if they don't sell it, the device stays put because otherwise they pay someone to go remove it?

 

[forumer]

The goofy thing is that they apparently buy so many of these that they can simply leave them in place if they don't sell the recovery package (or anti-theft, whatever that dealer is selling)
Mine was in place, there was never even any discussion of anything because I had the thing ordered and the price and options already set. There's a number of those devices hanging around under dashes with no "Service" sold to use it.
So I'd say it looks like they install them on all or most, try to sell the service and if they don't sell it, the device stays put because otherwise they pay someone to go remove it?

Not to (re)state the obvious as it's getting more and more coverage these days by both consumer watch groups and even mainstream media, but it has always been within the realm of reason to think that there is some other revenue stream or incentive for the dealers to bother installing these things indiscriminately even "without service" - I would not be at all surprised to find the vendor polling the devices, even the so called out of service units, on a semi-regular basis for their own data harvesting and metrics resale. Out of the box and installed there is probably nothing technical to stop the vendor from remotely activating the cellular radio, even if just occasionally for a short period of time. It would be interesting to see what sort of contract they have in place with their cellular carrier, but I bet they have negotiated something that allows for what some might consider transient activation/polls with very low cost overhead. Given that, I also wouldn't be surprised if the dealer is getting some sort of "spiff" or kickback for every new vehicle that comes online (again, even without selling the "service"). It would be really great to see that contract! It all depends on how valuable the data is.

Of course this also contributes to e-waste, spurious EMI/RFI, vampire power draw, etc. It's all such a waste. Never mind that many of the vehicles already have OEM telematics modules. This further speaks to how slimy the dealers are being - They don't really care about the integrity of the product they are selling as long as they get money out of the deal. These could also be the same people that turn around and try to give you grief for some aftermarket equipment you've installed. Do as I say, not as I do.

Anyway, if a dealer installs something like this without the buyer's consent the dealer needs to be exposed, reported, publicly shamed, and possibly sued depending on applicable laws. I'd certainly never buy another vehicle from them!

 

[Undecided]

The goofy thing is that they apparently buy so many of these that they can simply leave them in place if they don't sell the recovery package (or anti-theft, whatever that dealer is selling)
Mine was in place, there was never even any discussion of anything because I had the thing ordered and the price and options already set. There's a number of those devices hanging around under dashes with no "Service" sold to use it.
So I'd say it looks like they install them on all or most, try to sell the service and if they don't sell it, the device stays put because otherwise they pay someone to go remove it?

Mine was also installed from dealer on my ordered JT. They tried to add in a charge for it but before I signed anything my first question was why our agreed total was up $400. I was guessing it was taxes or something that had changed in the new year.

Had a great relationship with the sales guy and he for sure had a confused look on his face and checked it out. Turns out intake puts them on everything. He told me (that he was told) it reduces their insurance for on-lot cars, with a bonus of passing its cost to buyer. Which might explain why they just leave them even if you get the charge for it removed.

The service department was also going to charge him more to remove it than it was adding on price(lol $400 to unplug it??), so he just reduced the truck price and left it installed. He did apologies and say he had printed everything and had no reason to expect the numbers to change.

It gave me the impression that service and sales are almost entirely separate business units. Intake had no idea my car was sold. Sales had no idea they went on everything.

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