Ford Pass - Tin Foil Hat - Change my mind

[ShelbyMilk]

The Ford Pass Promo was for 200 points when I purchased my GT350. Had some service done to my car today and wanted to use the points. But what I missed is that you must activate the Pass and keep it enabled for 6 months.

Break down - If I keep it enabled for 6 months minimum....Ford is paying me @ $1.10 a day for 6 months for all my data. Is my privacy is worth more than $200?

My issue - I do have a phone with minimal apps which we all know track us 24/7 and report back (having kids with phones and installing apps that have more info (location, habits, likes and dislike friends) about our kids.... we tell them not to talk to strangers.....Yet that data is sold/shared over and over again.

Anyway....Would like to know what you guys did and your thoughts.

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[Tomster]

Well, you probably know how I feel about the matter. I went to the TCU and disconnected the 2 coax antenna leads and also disconnected the power/data harness. I also got rid of that stupid looking shark fin antenna, because with the TCU disconnected, it serves no purpose except to look stupid.

I choose not to share my driving habits of a high performance vehicle with anyone. The points they offer are crumbs and not substantial to even consider and kind of quid pro quo.

So, in the end, it comes down to each person. There is no right or wrong answer. Whatever decision you make, it ought to be an informed decision. It has been proven that ford collects data to share with an insurance data pool. What Ford is doing with the data on their end is a mystery. Another thought is that once you let ford collect your data, it is no longer yours. You can read the fine print, but like most data that is collected, you loose control of how that data can be used after it is collected. In fairness, you can opt out of the Ford pass app and insurance sharing, but the data stream never stops until you pull the plug.

 

[RPDBlueMoon]

The Ford Pass Promo was for 200 points when I purchased my GT350. Had some service done to my car today and wanted to use the points. But what I missed is that you must activate the Pass and keep it enabled for 6 months.

Break down - If I keep it enabled for 6 months minimum....Ford is paying me @ $1.10 a day for 6 months for all my data. Is my privacy is worth more than $200?

My issue - I do have a phone with minimal apps which we all know track us 24/7 and report back (having kids with phones and installing apps that have more info (location, habits, likes and dislike friends) about our kids.... we tell them not to talk to strangers.....Yet that data is sold/shared over and over again.

Anyway....Would like to know what you guys did and your thoughts.

Im deleting it after my second free oil change, its not worth the spyware and them tracking your data. There's already enough apps and stuff that do that, don't need my car to do that. Ford only offers it to you as a 'benefit' so that they can just whore out their customers.

 

[DrumReaper]

Actually, you can locate your car through Ford Pass if your car is stolen. Some insurance companies will provide you a discount if you have a locator on the car. See if that is worth the discount to you before you toss it.

 

[shogun32]

Actually, you can locate your car through Ford Pass if your car is stolen.

how realistic / probable is such a thing? Just buy a burner with minimal minutes. Toss it into the car connected to a USB port and leave the GPS running. Then if your car is 'stolen' then use 'locate my phone'.

I disable ALL phone-home features or don't buy them in the first place. If there was a fuse to pull I'd pull that too to made damn sure the evil witch is stays dead. So what if your car is stolen, that's why you carry theft insurance.

 

[DrumReaper]

how realistic / probable is such a thing? Just buy a burner with minimal minutes. Toss it into the car connected to a USB port and leave the GPS running. Then if your car is 'stolen' then use 'locate my phone'.

I disable ALL phone-home features or don't buy them in the first place. If there was a fuse to pull I'd pull that too to made damn sure the evil witch is stays dead. So what if your car is stolen, that's why you carry theft insurance.

Just responding to what people wanted to know bro... I can appreciate your concerns though as I like my life private as well.

 

[Caballus]

how realistic / probable is such a thing? Just buy a burner with minimal minutes. Toss it into the car connected to a USB port and leave the GPS running. Then if your car is 'stolen' then use 'locate my phone'.

I disable ALL phone-home features or don't buy them in the first place. If there was a fuse to pull I'd pull that too to made damn sure the evil witch is stays dead. So what if your car is stolen, that's why you carry theft insurance.

Doesn't this assume that the thief would leave the burner in the stolen car? Seems that they would be smart enough to toss the phone out.

 

[Tomster]

Doesn't this assume that the thief would leave the burner in the stolen car? Seems that they would be smart enough to toss the phone out.

Yea, really. All a thief would have to do is either pull the fuse or pop the trunk and pull the harness out of the TCU.

 

[fatony618]

Actually, you can locate your car through Ford Pass if your car is stolen. Some insurance companies will provide you a discount if you have a locator on the car. See if that is worth the discount to you before you toss it.

I would advise anyone on this thread NOT to use Ford Pass as any type of substitute for a true GPS tracker in the case of theft. It's def a cool feature just to check where your car is parked - but for me it's useless - as my car is parked in my apartment garage and the signal doesn't go through concrete/obstructions.

If you want the peace of mind to locate your car if it gets stolen then get Lo-Jack. I got the base $695 option for the life of the car. No wires or anything needed to power it and it was an easy install. You also get an insurance discount. Not much but it's something

 

[drummerboy]

If there was a fuse to pull I'd pull that too to made damn sure the evil witch is stays dead.

Just in case you hadn't seen it, on your car this is fuse #10 - Telematics. This pulls power to the TCU and is verified to stop the data transmission/receiving.

https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/threads/4g-modem-disabling-instructions.146860/

 

[SpeedLu]

Actually, you can locate your car through Ford Pass if your car is stolen. Some insurance companies will provide you a discount if you have a locator on the car. See if that is worth the discount to you before you toss it.

Thanks for this, I actually wasn't aware of said discount.

 

[Soulja4187]

The only good thing is when I drop it off at the dealer I can see when they last started the car and if they drove it.

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