Sweetlou

Ricktwuhk

How did you think your phone was communicating with the truck, if not with a modem?

FordPass shows location. Logic therfore tells you that Ford knows location...

FYI, the ability to locate your truck may give you an insurance discount on top of the alarm discount.

elptxjc

Apples to oranges man. If you're that paranoid that a city of 1 million is too specific for you, I feel sorry for you. Ha ha. Besides, it's common courtesy to put your location on a site like this, since many posts require it for proper context, plus if we're using the site, let them make revenue off my location if that's what happens. Letting a freaking app track everything you do and go is VERY different than just letting other members know where you live. Besides, it as reported that insurance companies are Ford's customers, and they even get the speeds you travel every mile (don't doubt it one bit), so I'm a bit more reluctant to allow such intrusion than just voluntarily stating where I live, but to each his own.

TheLariat

I know I'm bumping this old thread but I found this looking for methods of disabling telematics on the lightening. This is an 'old school' forum and is far different than allowing Ford to suck live data from your car.

I just hate the notion that people who want to disable the telematics are branded as paranoid. These forums used to be all about sticking it to the company and modding the **** out of your vehicle. If the guy wants to disable telematics we should all be for it. I'm not 'paranoid' but I agree with disabling the telematics. Once I get something newer than my 07 I'll be yanking the cell card. I just simply don't believe in feeding the machine any more than I already do. The more people that embrace it the more that it encourages this behavior on behalf of the companies. Cars are not tech products... they are cars.

My reasons against the telematics and "connected" cars in general. You might think it's slippery slope but I guarantee we see a few of these in 10 years.

• It allows for, encourages, and normalizes subscription based features - Imagine a world where your engine is de-rated and can just go on the app and "license" extra power. Some might say that's a good thing but I see it as money grubbing BS. We see subscription features on the Toyotas (keyfob), BMW, and Tesla. To take it a step further since enabling these in an unauthorized manner would be "hacking" it would be a felony or at the very least mod chips to enable this stuff would not be as easy to find on ebay. Back in the day (non-connected) you could do what you want to your car. The easier things become the more companies push this.
  
  
  
• Too much power to the manufacturer - Let's say you have an unauthorized mod. Ford can sense it remotely and flag you. Taking it a step further Ford could blacklist salvage vehicles, disable them for non-payment, court order, etc. Back in the day... not possible. You can usually remove your mod before going to the dealer.
  
  
• Throw away vehicles - Do you think those servers will be up in 20 years? If the only way to remote unlock your car is a stupid app that won't work down the line. Tesla's frunk doesn't have a physical button nor do they come with a key fob. You literally can't open the frunk from the outside without an app which is nuts. Old used trucks will be heavily neutered.
  
  
• Reliance on the phone\app - Your phone is dead? Stolen? Poor and didn't pay your bill that month? It would suck not to be able to do basic things on your vehicle. I get the app is 'optional' but as it becomes more normalized more features become 'app only' (see Telsa above). I get phones are a necessity but we don't need to keep feeding the beast and relying MORE on them.
  
  
• Insurance companies - I opt out of that stupid connected driving tracker that Allstate and the like give. As connected vehicles become the norm all insurance companies will basically be "sign this release or we deny coverage". The data will be pumped directly from ford. As things get stupid easy they get normalized.
  
  
• Do-gooder laws - Looking at you California. Imagine if there were laws on the books that forced Ford to push updates to cars to use AI to track possible 'drunk driving', limit speed in certain areas, or limit functionality\speed for certain individuals (i.e. if you are pending trial for DUI you're limited to 60 MPH). Can't push updates to non-connected vehicles.
  
  
• Subpoena - Not encouraging law breaking but you know Ford will turn that data over if you were ever involved in an incident. Yes I get your phone tracks you but perhaps that Ford data is the nail in the coffin on a case you get roped up in.
  
  
• General privacy - The usual argument about Ford making extra $ selling your data to advertisers. It's bull****. You buy a $70k car.... It's yours not theirs.
  
  
• Control - Once again it's a CAR not a tech product. Not everything has to be a tech product.....
  

Rant over. I know I sound like some old boomer luddite. I'm actually not and I work in tech. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

barrytone

iTrader: (1)

I don't disagree with any of your points - I am in tech as well and only see the situation of data gathering getting worse. I think what many who are saying that others are "paranoid" are really trying to point out, is that in the current state, the telematics system is not currently doing the things you point out as concerning, or what others theorize it's doing. If someone has no use for remote starting their truck from an app, or any of the stats that FordPass provides, then pull the fuse for the TCU and use the keyfob for remote start. If someone is worried that Ford is going to remotely restrict their truck's max speed to 55 MPH because they drove too fast in a School Zone one day last week, they should be informed that that particular function is not something that is happening, nor has proven capability for Ford to actually do.

TheLariat

Makes sense. I just wish we could embrace tech "the right way". Nothing wrong with a phone, nothing wrong with a cellular modem. Why not have the option to have local only access where your phone can still control it by connecting via Bluetooth (and the actual web API calls published). The API can be fully authenticated where both the phone and car have to have some long 256-bit key.

Another alternative is, in the dashboard, you could set a host the car connects to and you run the ford software yourself (your phone also talks to the host). I know "most people" won't do that and you can still have the cute\friendly ford hosted app but 20 years later when those servers go down your truck can still do cool techy things. The community can make cool enhancements as well. I still run a Windows XP VM on my ****box computer to run some outdated OBD II software. 20 years down the road people with those old trucks who still want to do the cool techy things will have a 'buddy who's good with computers' who can help set it up. At least it's not obsolete.

I'd embrace more of the tech stuff if they supported a local\self hosted pathway in addition to the friendly app-y method. I wonder if it's more ignorance on the part of the big orgs that design this stuff (they just get the cheapest outsource development place and all they know how to do is chuck stuff into AWS rather than engineer local workarounds) or if it's nefarious.

I would say that continued adoption and acceptance of connected tech like this will enable that to happen down the line. Tesla's "driving score" is a lightweight example of that. You can't use FSD unless the AI deems you as 'safe'. Insurance would absolutely love a law like this where some AI assigns driving scores and neuters the vehicles for 'bad drivers'. It's more about stopping it before it starts.

I totally agree though, status quo does not do that nor can it likely even update to do that.

FordbobST

So I did the master reset. The transmitting arrow icons are still present so it means while driving data is not being transmitted, the vehicle location is still going to Ford. How does one opt out of location sharing all together?

rjinaz

That is part of Ford Pass. You can use the app to locate your vehicle.
Only way to stop it is disable the TCU.