Anyone heard of hidden Toyota tracker?

What is the point of this post? You act like it's nonsense when it’s literally PROVEN they can track, collect data, and remotely control your vehicle. Not just Toyota, but government, police, and bad actors. I swear people like you are federal agents or something getting mad at people removing tracking and data collection so they try to convince everyone online they’re stupid and irrational for removing a strangers tracking device. I mean if I put a microphone and tracking device on your car would you care? Maybe not but then you’re just like mindless cattle that don’t care about privacy. You do you, but don’t act like it’s crazy to remove spyware

 

Michael Hastings would disagree...and you should stop spreading mis-information™

-The big oil companies, actually Rockefeller, created big pharma...

-Bill Gates did not put tracking chips in the covid vaccine, but he was the face of Event 201 in October 2019 testing the worldwide pandemic response and how to 'control mis-information' and even discussed the medical counter measures needed to overcome resistance
https://archive.org/details/og-event201

-Bill Gates did develop a digital ID chip to show vaccine status, he called this ID2020 and bragged about it in a Reddit AMA
https://archive.ph/IhPjg

-Since 1999 over 4,000 patents for Covid™ have been registered, it was first created in a BPL3 Lab at UNC
https://archive.ph/DmYCR

-I though socially correct good boys refused to use the term 'illegal alien' and prefer the term 'newcomers'

-Aluminum foil is not only useless for preventing emissions, but aluminum (and fluoride) are among the most common neuro toxicants which induce disturbances in the nervous system and should be avoided
https://archive.ph/OqgW7

finally, if you're gonna try to dunk on others for their 'stupid beliefs' you should use spell check

And you should also avoid faux news, google, and seed oils...

Anyway, lets get back to the tracker topic and modern Toyotas...

I removed this IKON tracker from my Camry yesterday,
This was a prior service loan car, so I suspect it was used by the dealer to track their loaner...

But it is still active...
It was not zip tied under the dash, but was placed as directed with the transmitter side UP
I removed it and took the picture, the IMEI on the device matched the label stuck to the driver door jam

Another interesting fact, I removed this and tossed it on the kitchen counter so I could show others...
after my cell phone was placed on the charger nearby (but not touching) the tracker...the tracker 'woke up' and a green LED and a blue LED came on

I do not want any trackers on any of my vehicles,
if you want another one on your vehicle, let me know...I got an extra one

 

Man, I haven't had a chance yet nor am I currently well versed in wiring. I have no printout of what wires are what so I have no idea of what it's connected to but in my quick look I'd say there were at least half a dozen wires spliced in.

 

Here's a recent article about this tracker: I think it's the same guy but a different model of the tracker.

https://currently.att.yahoo.com/autos/toyota-customer-gives-us-dealership-120000218.html

 

Okay, I really dont like to add fuel to the fire but i suspect this is going to be a giant privacy problem in the near future and i think its important that this topic be discussed. These things arent there to track where you go. I suspect its totally possible but i dont see any financial incentive for companies to care WHERE youre driving your car. They care much more about HOW youre driving your car. Aggressive braking or acceleration etc. Some auto manufactures have been caught or have admitted to gathering user data from your vehicle and then selling that data to brokers who then sell it to insurance companies. Said insurance companies are then allegedly using this data to set your rates or to deny coverage entirely. The articles below mention GM as a major problem in this issue and i remember hearing about Acura(therefore Honda) doing the same thing. I just dont have sauce for the acura one.

Sources below.
https://usa.kaspersky.com/blog/car-manufacturers-silently-sell-user-telematics-data/30126/
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/11/technology/carmakers-driver-tracking-insurance.html
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/23/how...ected-car-from-selling-your-driving-data.html
https://www.forbes.com/sites/rogerd...y-be-sold-to-insurers-general-motors-reveals/

I dont have proof but its not a stretch to imagine that these cellular transmitters or "tracking chips" possess the capability to transmit the data from your ECU directly to manufacturers. I also SPECULATE that there is some sort of fine print legalese saying "by driving or purchasing this vehicle you consent to data collection"

REMEMBER!!! im just some guy on the internet. My word is NOT gospel. DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH!

EDIT: Its not a stretch to imagine toyota operating in this space. Theyre a company beholden to shareholders just like all the others.

 

Toyota already has a device that collects all this data - it goes through the DCM through a dedicated cellular chip. There are several threads on that topic, including one on how disable it.

The device in question on this thread is something else added by dealers.

 

They care about where you drive your car because that info is very useful to advertisers or companies who wish to buy it. Frequent (X) mall a lot? Well these chain stores are there that you represent, I’ll sell you a list of the vehicles owners info that frequent there so you can better target your advertising. Other countries use that info (China, maybe more) to adjust citizens social credit score, or simply keep an eye on you to see who you associate with, where you shop, etc. they learn your patterns so if you ever decide to step out of line there’s an entire cache of info on your habits. People say you shouldn’t care because it’s inevitable they get this info because of phones, debit cards, etc. but it’s actually easy. Use cash, leave phone at home or don’t have a smartphone, and disable vehicle data collecting services, don’t have social media. You’ve just ducked 90% of their passive data collection.

 

Possibly installed on leased/financed autos to make finding it's location easier for repossession if necessary.

 

I don't give 2 shits about GPS in my vehicle. Come get me. Everyone is so paranoid yet they carry around a smart phone.

But anyways it looks like this IKON crap is catered to dealers and not Corp Toyota.

 

You won’t care until you find out the data is sold to insurance companies and they use the data to increase your rates even if you have no tickets or accidents. Just ask Honda and GM customers on what it has cost them this past year when that bit of info came out.

 

Believe it yet?

 

Nope because I don't give a shit.

Like I said above. Everyone walks around with a smart phone.

 

Rates will always increase. Must be high if you think you gonna have the same rate as 10+ years ago.

The individual premiums of mine went down since I added more vehicles and get more discount.

I live in Hawaii where cost of living is already butt ass high. Couple $ on my insurance won't bother me.

 

I had a dealer do that in 1998, add a tracker to a new car purchase (already installed pre-sale) so it's been a thing for a long time. I paid for the vehicle, less the already installed security system. They wanted to charge $2000 for "security" after I agreed to sale price without it. I said I'm not interested, so they dropped the price to $1500. I said wow, it seems like a screaming deal for $500 off, but I'm not interested. They ended up saying they couldn't sell it for less than $1000. I said that's fine by me, remove it. They said $750 was as low as they could go as that's what it cost them to install it, with product cost and tech time. I explained that was their cost, not mine. Mine was $0. They said it'd cost them more to remove it so they'd sell it for $250. I said that's great but unless they were willing to take it out at their expense it was still going to cost me $0. They ended up making a "service" appointment for me and they cut the wires and removed it. It was after that experience that I never trusted the dealer to install or remove a dealer-installed option and refused all non-OEM installed equipment. I'll check to see if it's installed in the rig, but I know I'm not paying (money) for it.

 

But some of us know enough to keep it turned off and in aluminum foil and to check the messages from a telephone booth in another city (yeah, racking up those frequent flyer miles to check messages, baby!).

 

DONE!

I don't have a face space account, twitter page, or google log in...
none of my cars are synched to my phone, my phone often stays at home alone, and my iPhone 5 language is set to Japanese

after I use my phone to log into my system with MFA, it goes into a mission darkness faraday bag

$65 Mission Darkness NeoLok Window Faraday Bag for Phones (+ Secure Magnetic Closure & Transparent Window) // Device Shielding for Law Enforcement & Military, Data Security, Anti-Hacking & Anti-Tracking

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B082MRYSRT/

bonus: all my key fobs live in a cabinet, inside mission darkness faraday pouches...

$15 Mission Darkness Faraday Bag for Keyfobs (2-Pack) // RF Shielding Protective Case for Smart Always On Keys Fobs Transmitters Small Electronics Vehicle Security Anti-Hacking Block Signal Relay

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01H1C21O2/

 

A master of fine arts...or multiple fine arts, or master of factor arts, or master of fine authentication? Is Fair a'Day, like top o'the morning to ya!? Are you a spook?

 

The original post had nothing to do with smart phones. It was about tracking devices installed in Toyotas.

 

No shit.

But it turned into I don't want to be tracked blah blah blah blah.

Always does. Just putting it out there in advance.

 

MFA is multi factor authentication
faraday system prevents electromagnetic transmission or reception
I am not a spook, I was S-3...but my last deployment was S-2 as a base ATO
even 20 years ago with flip phones, before entering a classified briefing, one had to leave cell phones outside
and its open source info what peer, or near peer bad actors can do with cell phone data...ask WW Reddit how they got targeted

It doesn't effect my life and I don't care if others are unconcerned with being tracked...

But I appreciate @Bagman for starting this thread,
and looking forward to @Tacoma4runnerbeachboy90 getting his 4Runner and writing up his DCM experiment

I realize the 2024 4runners are tracked, but they are better than other modern choices, and anything to mitigate attempts is worthwhile to me

 

Thanks. I was being facetious, "multi(ple) fine arts, or master of factor arts, or master of fine authentication".

I agree, mitigation is worthwhile.

 

It's too bad that you dont have the receiver portion or know how to set that aspect of it up. Should you have teen agers that drive the family car it would be nice to know where they are off too. Certainly not at the library!

 

I just found one on mine. I unplugged it from the white OBD2 port and will remove it when I have time.

 

Dam! Just removed another one from my ‘21 F-150! WTF?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K2BpqMf5Ac

 

3+ min of blabbing and all I hear is the lawyer taking 10 business years to read a purchase agreement that should take less than an hour to read 10x.

 

The only thing that I saw in my sales agreement was something along the lines of “you agree to allow gps data to be collected if so equipped.” Well, I removed it so it’s no longer equipped therefore no longer allowed.

 

just went outside and checked… my 2024 TRD ORP (purchased in April Toyota Dealer in Colorado) has a white port.

I did see the blurb near my map lights : “Vehicle data transmission is on” press sos button to deactivate . Not sure if I would lose any meaningful features turning all of this off