We all know automakers want to keep tabs on their cars. Stolen vehicle tracking? Sure. Fleet management? Fine. Microphone eavesdropping to serve more ads? Hate it, but OK, that’s a thing. Hold onto your tin-foil hats: Ford just filed a patent for something that takes vehicle tracking into full-blown Twilight Zone territory. Always-On Tracking… In Your Car, or Somebody Else’s.
If you own a car made after like 2012, look into disabling the DCM/telematics system for your model. Pull the fuse, or unplug the cables, or straight up remove all the hardware. Its not a perfect and comprehensive solution but it’s something.
Wish I could figure out how to do that in my 2020 Pacifica. That fucker has pop up weather alerts that never stop. Idk why the car thinks it needs to tell me the weather. I am driving maybe I am driving away from that. Or you know I ALREADY know the weather because I use a phone. My car has no business having a pop up with the weather.
I am absolutely furious to find out that you can totally turn off those alerts… by calling a literal phone number. You call Sirius FM, and they deactivate it, I guess it’s a free trial or some BS.
Comment #15 from Kailua Coach seems to do what you want done, what a shitheaded design:
https://www.pacificaforums.com/threads/turn-off-weather-alerts.37618/
Nope, did that. Even went as far as demanding my radio be deleted from their system. As we have no gdpr protections and I am not in California they refuse to delete it. And they continue to send the weather alerts.
Fuuuuck!!!
Unethical pro life tip… it’s not like they KNOW you’re not a European. Hit them with the GDPR request anyhow. ThePantser sounds close enough to DerPanzer. Worth a shot, what do I know, tho
They know you’re not a European. You bought and drive the car in America and presumably park it in America at night. It’s not like they don’t know where it goes.
In the “News of the Strange,” we do have Europeans in the USA :) Being located in the USA is not a universal guarantee that you are not eligible for GDPR protections.
If you’re European but residing in America long term, using American companies from on American soil are you still subject to European GDPR protections? I don’t actually know, I could understand an argument being made either way I think. I guess if you’re an active European citizen you got me there, but I don’t think many of those are here in America buying new cars are they?
Also, I needed an ID and credit card to buy a car… The dealer definitely knew who I was. I don’t know if you can just buy those cash anymore.
I could also just be wrong on all counts, but I think a car dealership has many ways to ensure whether or not you are subject to GDPR protections. Faking it probably isn’t going to get you very far.
Smart.
I think that’s why Ford is patenting this specific tech. It prevents you from being able to turn off the tracking, by leveraging every Ford that has NOT turned off tracking to spot the vehicle that is “running dark.”
I probably will at some point, but right now the convenience of starting my car from my phone is too high.
Or drive a rust bucket