‘Check your ODB port’: Man discovers Toyota dealership’s GPS tracker in his Tacoma. Then he shows how to remove it
A Toyota Tacoma driver says he discovered a tracking device hidden in his vehicle. He says it was put in by the dealership.
Mark Zeluhs (@zeluhs) posted about the startling find in a viral TikTok that's accrued over 1.8 million views on the popular social media application.
In the video, he delineates what initially led him to find the tucked-away contraption. Multiple users on the app, however, contended this wasn't installed by Toyota, but rather the car dealership he bought the truck from.
What's this sticker inside his Toyota Tacoma?
Zeluhs begins his video with his lens directed at the door jamb of his Toyota Tacoma pickup truck.
Next, he points to a sticker, which alerted him to a piece of equipment he was unaware was installed in his vehicle. "So I was out here fixing the latch for my Tacoma. Cause it'll get stuck and you can't open the door," he explains. "And I saw this sticker."
According to the tucked-away insert's text, the equipment is capable of wireless transmissions. Additionally, it carries a warning related to the equipment. "All persons must keep minimum separation of 20 centimeters from the transmitter's antenna," Zeluhs reads the text on the sticker.
The reason for the warning, it turns out, is so the transmitter in question could comply with federal regulations. "To meet current FCC exposure guidelines," he continues.
At this point in the video, the Tacoma owner flips his camera around to look under the car's steering wheel column. He explains his experience working with the Federal Aviation Administration is what piqued his interest. "Like, that's weird. Being a technician for the FAA working on radios, I know all about that [expletive]," he says.
What's with the tracking device in this Toyota?
Following this, Zeluhs says he recalled hearing some Toyota models are outfitted with tracking devices.
"And then I remember, hey, there's some people with the GR Corollas...that are finding GPS trackers in their car," he claims. "One of those guys was in South Houston. I live in South Houston. And that's where I bought my truck."
While relaying his anecdote, he aims his camera towards an assortment of wires above his car's pedals. "So, I look at the OBD2 port, and I'm like, 'Huh, that's weird. Why are there so little wires? What's all this in the back?'"
Zeluhs begins inspecting the port, along with a cluster of wires that turned out to be an extension cable. Soon after, he follows the path of the extension cable. A portion of it is tucked behind a piece of plastic on the floor of the vehicle.
Then he yanks on the wire and out pops a black box attached to the wiring. "So I go over here, pull this out, and I find this. I don't know what it is," he says, pulling out the tracker.
"But if it's got a SIM card in it, oh boy. You know I'm gonna be using that free data. Thanks nerds."
In a caption for the video, Zeluhs urges folks who spot this system in their vehicles to remove it promptly.
Others say dealerships have done the same
One new Civic buyer in this forum showed off a similar-looking device they found in their vehicle. Like Zeluhs, they said it had a "rats nest of wiring" attached to a box under the car's dash.
When confronting the dealer about the device, the driver was told the tracking system came directly from Honda. They also wrote the vehicle was paid in full, so the tracking system wasn't a "stipulation of a loan."
Numerous commenters who responded to his post stated that, like the original poster, they didn't believe the tracker was a Honda installation. This included a user who said they were an employee of the JDM brand.
"Definitely not a Honda Product. I work for Honda and we never installed those. Unless the client need[ed] to install it because car insurance ask[ed] for it," they claimed.
Charging for tracking?
Several other folks in the forum discussion claimed these GPS trackers are dealership add-ons. The relatively simple installation is used as a means of jacking up the price of the car in question as an added security feature.
One penned, "Your dealer is full of crap. The dealer installed it to charge more and make more profit from you. Dealer installs are high margin stuff that you generally don't need."
One Redditor in an entirely separate post said a car dealership tried charging $800 for a GPS tracking system as well. After the buyer expressed numerous times they didn't want a private company tracking them, the business ditched the tracker fee.
However, they wouldn't remove the device from the vehicle, the Reddit user stated. Instead, an employee in the finance department informed the buyer of its location. Furthermore, they asked the customer if they could at least "activate" the device before taking it out.
Why do some vehicles have these trackers?
In some instances, auto lenders will stipulate that tracking devices need to be placed on vehicles for specific loans. Typically, these are for buyers a financier believes are at a heightened risk of missing payments.
Tracking company LiveViewGPS writes about this phenomena. "Some lenders are now requiring the installation of GPS tracking devices," the site states. The business specifies that the gadgets are placed "in vehicles of dealerships who choose to sell cars to high-risk borrowers."
Another GPS tracking supplier, Advantage, says that live monitoring of vehicular assets also minimizes risks for lenders. GPS Leaders also offers and installs these devices as well.
In the case of Toyota vehicles, it doesn't appear that the type of GPS tracker Zeluhs showed in his video is a factory add-on. In a Toyota Nation forum discussing this same topic, one user referenced the manufacturer's Entune 3.0 system.
This additional service allows customers to monitor and interact with their vehicles wirelessly. However, it appears to use the car's internal GPS and Data systems, not an add-on in the OBD2 port.
Other Toyota customers who said they found trackers akin to the one in Zeluhs' vehicles attribute them to dealership installs.
@zeluhs Either Toyota or the dealer you is tracking you and your car check your OBD port for this and properly remove it. #toyota #tacoma #gpstracker #grcorolla ♬ original sound - Mark Zeluhs
TikTokers sound off
Similarly to the above-mentioned forum discussions, commenters who replied to Zeluhs' post called out the dealership practice.
One said, "If you bought the vehicle from a dealership. And they failed to inform you of the tracker you have a solid suit against them and the manufacturer."
Another said that the device more than likely doesn't store data and is only used for vehicle retrieval. "It’s LoJack. Like an actual LoJack system. No data on it as they disable it after you leave if you didn’t pay for the service. It’s just easier to install them on all the cars upfront," they wrote.
Someone else said that they work at a dealership and the trackers are put on the cars of "high risk" customers. Additionally, they're also marketed as a security feature for other buyers.
"I put these in for a dealer for people with bad credit. However they also install them on every used car and upcharge your for an "anti theft" package. If you go for it they simply activate it," the user claimed.
Similarly, another TikToker wrote, "I work at a dealer and we are installing them on every car."
The Daily Dot has reached out to Toyota via email and Zeluhs via TikTok comment for further information.
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The post ‘Check your ODB port’: Man discovers Toyota dealership’s GPS tracker in his Tacoma. Then he shows how to remove it appeared first on The Daily Dot.