4G Modem Disabling Instructions:

[cantdrive55]

Here's some additional data on where different antennas are located:

Thanks to previous diagrams, I was quickly able to locate very strong signal from two antennas (circled). They are below the sheetmetal, so access would be from below the car:

When vehicle hotspot is turned on, these two above are pulsing to beat the band. I do not know what purpose they serve other than creating the in-car Wi-Fi hotspot network, if any. I was unable to detect any RF from these locations except when hotspot was on.

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In the rear package tray is clearly the 4G antenna. When refreshing FordPass data or locking/unlocking doors, it sounds exactly like a mobile phone sending/receiving a text.

It phones home precisely every 2min 5sec with a packet of data that sounds to be the size of a large quantity of text or small photograph. I can't really tell the quantity of data, but it isn't terribly difficult to discern small amounts such as text and large amounts such as many pictures or a video.

I pulled the fuse during one of these transactions and the signal stopped immediately. It is at this time that I'd again like to assert that pulling the fuse is the easiest way to kill the 4G communication (presuming your car has the TCU on its own circuit like my 2019 GT350).

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Disregard the arrow for now.

Circled is the location of possibly two antennas, one almost certainly being the bluetooth antenna and the other one communicating with the key fob. There is chatter coming from this location that I previously interpreted as Wi-Fi scans, which is in fact the key fob comms.

The arrow points to another possible location where different chatter is heard, but I am not 100% confident, it's a little confusing. Here it is circled:

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I will be happy to do any further testing, though I can't think of anything else at this time other that the Wi-Fi antenna location. I would need to connect to Wi-Fi and attempt to update the unit to identify the location of the Wi-Fi antenna, which is something I'm not going to dive into at this time.

Doesn't the key communication come from the rear cup holder? With my rear cup holder disconnected (alcantara shift/brake boot install) my car couldn't detect my key and wouldn't start.

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[cactus_kid]

Just got this in today's mail. Now you have a reason to put your fuse back...............

Why is that ? The Ford CC has absolutely nothing to do with the modem. My card works fine and my fuse was pulled weeks ago.

 

[Bikeman315]

Why is that ? The Ford CC has absolutely nothing to do with the modem. My card works fine and my fuse was pulled weeks ago.

Mike, I was kidding. I’m just getting a kick out of reading this thread. To many folks think that their data is important enough to Ford to try and block it. George Orwell must be rolling over in his grave laughing his ass off.

 

[WD Pro]

Modem on 2020 UK spec car :

One multi plug and one coax going to it.

Apologies if this is duplicated info, I’ve only skimmed the later pages of this thread

WD

 

[drummerboy]

Modem on 2020 UK spec car :

Right on. I didn't look at mine too close after locating it. Just a plug and a coax, eh? I think it's a pretty safe bet the coax eventually ends up at an antenna under the package tray.

Don't know what your little green box there is, didn't look too closely at that either. Mine's a bit different:

 

[dx2]

To many folks think that their data is important enough to Ford to try and block it.

Beside the other reasons mentioned it's the fact they don't want to pay us for getting our data, they want it for free.

 

[Bikeman315]

Beside the other reasons mentioned it's the fact they don't want to pay us for getting our data, they want it for free.

Interesting. How much does your phone company pay you? Your credit card company, your utility companies? Who actually pays you for your data?

 

[dx2]

Interesting. How much does your phone company pay you? Your credit card company, your utility companies? Who actually pays you for your data?

Nobody. I am just against this business model of collecting and selling data on behalf of everyone without sharing. On the other hand we probably get paid with other means sometimes, like these Ford pass 'points' or getting some discounts somewhere. And some services just require certain data to work in the first place since it's their essence of existence and their monetization purpose.

How about open data. Make it mandatory to provide collected data (anonymized) publicly available for everyone to use so it can be used by everyone interested to process further. Selling purely collected and unprocessed data then becomes useless because it is available for free but I don't know if that would work.

Besides that right now we will we will not get paid anything for providing our data because we are forced to consent to terms and conditions (fine print) to provide it for free or else no service. Not ok.

 

[CrowsHeadSoup]

STEP 1) Disconnect fuse #10: Telematics

The 2020 manual shows it now as fuse 8. I removed fuse 8 and noticed nothing amiss.

Kudos to your post. As an amateur, albeit unpublished writer, I find your writing competence far exceeding the average literate. Easy to follow, a pleasure to read. Thanks for the technical tip artfully explained.

 

[Tank]

What MY did this start?

Can anyone say when the fuse moved to #8.

 

[drummerboy]

Kudos to your post. As an amateur, albeit unpublished writer, I find your writing competence far exceeding the average literate. Easy to follow, a pleasure to read. Thanks for the technical tip artfully explained.

Stop it, you're making me blush. Thank you.

What MY did this start?

Can anyone say when the fuse moved to #8.

Until someone replies and knows exactly, I think I remember this first started with the '19 model year, and the fuse moved to 8 in '20.

I found it in the manual, you can find which one it is in there or also do a quick search for 2019 Mustang Owners Manual and download your manual from the Ford site.

And recapping earlier conversation to the best of my memory, for now I don't think anyone has found that the circuit the modem is on has anything else in there with it on a Mustang, though I believe I saw other things tied in on other models. Unplugging the modem itself would also suffice, it is easily accessed in the trunk (I think I have pics of this in this thread). Additionally, Tomster has some great content on this topic in his thread in the GT500 forum. Between these two threads, the fuse, the modem, and the antennas are all located with details in the discussion. On mine, just the fuse completely disables it, so I'm a member of the #PullTheFuse gang, but the other disabling methods are also simple. YMMV, but you can test if it's working with the FordPass app.

 

[WD Pro]

Stop it, you're making me blush. Thank you.


Until someone replies and knows exactly, I think I remember this first started with the '19 model year, and the fuse moved to 8 in '20.

I found it in the manual, you can find which one it is in there or also do a quick search for 2019 Mustang Owners Manual and download your manual from the Ford site.

And recapping earlier conversation to the best of my memory, for now I don't think anyone has found that the circuit the modem is on has anything else in there with it on a Mustang, though I believe I saw other things tied in on other models. Unplugging the modem itself would also suffice, it is easily accessed in the trunk (I think I have pics of this in this thread). Additionally, Tomster has some great content on this topic in his thread in the GT500 forum. Between these two threads, the fuse, the modem, and the antennas are all located with details in the discussion. On mine, just the fuse completely disables it, so I'm a member of the #PullTheFuse gang, but the other disabling methods are also simple. YMMV, but you can test if it's working with the FordPass app.

Yes, I am also a #PullTheFuse gang member ... lol

It was also number 8 on mine (euro 2020) and I haven't found anything that doesn't work (other than the modem) after pulling that fuse

Pulling the fuse just seemed like the quickest easiest way for me.

WD

 

[Tank]

Stop it, you're making me blush. Thank you.


Until someone replies and knows exactly, I think I remember this first started with the '19 model year, and the fuse moved to 8 in '20.

I found it in the manual, you can find which one it is in there or also do a quick search for 2019 Mustang Owners Manual and download your manual from the Ford site.

And recapping earlier conversation to the best of my memory, for now I don't think anyone has found that the circuit the modem is on has anything else in there with it on a Mustang, though I believe I saw other things tied in on other models. Unplugging the modem itself would also suffice, it is easily accessed in the trunk (I think I have pics of this in this thread). Additionally, Tomster has some great content on this topic in his thread in the GT500 forum. Between these two threads, the fuse, the modem, and the antennas are all located with details in the discussion. On mine, just the fuse completely disables it, so I'm a member of the #PullTheFuse gang, but the other disabling methods are also simple. YMMV, but you can test if it's working with the FordPass app.

Appreciate the thorough response.

I’m just looking to link this in the Basics Sticky and needed a knowledgeable synopsis. Good stuff

 

[drummerboy]

Out of curiosity, I re downloaded the Ford Pass app (and later uninstalled) last night, and the latest data it had was from the last time I had plugged the fuse in to test some things six months ago in September. Mileage, how much fuel, everything was from back then. So at this point I'm going to consider it case closed for my use case, but two points for others to consider: 1) I'm going to go ahead and disconnect all harnesses (power/antenna/data?) connected to the modem anyway, and 2) I don't connect my phone via bluetooth, so perhaps someone else can carry that torch and test if the data can get submitted that way.

Sidenote: I found a couple disturbing things in the new Ford Pass app:
1) There's a "My Journeys" feature that talks about tracking where you go, when, driving habits, etc. at all times, specifically stating that it's not limited to just when you're in your car but all trips, public transit specifically included... almost certainly just at all times - a walk through home depot, a hike in the woods, getting a snack out of the refrigerator... So Ford is tracking the car, but, even worse, the phone. I guess that should have been obvious.
2) A brief skim of the TOS turned up the usual suspects. There was a place to have them delete your data via CCPA, but that did not look particularly easy to do, so I'll look into that later. They do potentially have 2k of my miles on file.

 

[Postal Bob]

1) There's a "My Journeys" feature

That feature has to be enabled in order for it to track your journeys. I have not enabled it in my app.

Something positive though to consider for keeping your modem connected: The location of your vehicle. It always shows you an address of the current location of your car. I know this is a form of tracking. But at the same time, God forbid your car gets stolen, you can tell police exactly where your stolen car is.(Or you cannot, and take care of the thiefs yourselfs.)

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