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Disable tracking on Chevy Bolt 2019 (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 8 months ago by JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works to c/right2repair@discuss.tchncs.de

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OnStar reports location and speed data to the car manufacturer. Sometimes they will sell this data to insurance companies to raise your premium, as several news stores pointed out a few weeks ago. I couldn't really find an advantage to OnStar, (I have my phone to call emergency services) so I disabled it by pulling it's fuse.

For my 2019 bolt, it's f31 in the instrument panel fuse box, just down and to the left of the steering wheel. The fuse box cover comes off when you pull it hard from the bottom.

I was able to find which fuse went to OnStar in the owners manual and labeled on the inside of the fuse box cover. You should be able to find it for your model car there too if it uses OnStar.

I did have the casualty of my speaker for calls and texts. I'm not able to use it right now. I'll see if I can dig in and reconnect it somehow, but we'll see.

Who knows that other into they're snitching back to GM, or what they could do in the future, so I recommend disconnecting it. Good luck!

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[-] humorlessrepost@lemmy.world 112 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Cadillac here. I just unscrew the cellular antenna from the onstar module before leaving the lot. Looks like the onstar module is less conveniently located for bolts (it’s under my rear seats, I think it’s behind your screen), but that’s a good way to avoid collateral damage to other things on the same fuse. Since it’s a separate antenna from the gps, I even still get navigation, just without map updates. It’s all the good of a cell jammer, with none of the prison or fines. For now.

[-] kalpol@lemmy.world 30 points 8 months ago

Even better because without the antenna load, the transmitter may burn out.

[-] umbrella@lemmy.ml 63 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

inb4 manufacturers start baking it into the fuel injection cpu, and spending (your) extra money with encryption to lock the "owner" out like modern phones

[-] SatansMaggotyCumFart@lemmy.world 15 points 8 months ago

My cell phone doesn't have a fuel injection cpu.

[-] loudWaterEnjoyer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 8 months ago

Pathetic, how old is your phone??? Like a thousand years or something?????

[-] SatansMaggotyCumFart@lemmy.world 6 points 8 months ago

Eight miles to the gallon actually.

[-] RvTV95XBeo@sh.itjust.works 61 points 8 months ago

LMK if anyone finds the fuse my Kia uses to track my sex life per the TOS. Also unrelated, but please LMK if anyone finds my sex life. I seem to have misplaced it.

[-] Noodle07@lemmy.world 16 points 8 months ago

Have you looked in your socks?

[-] MB420GFY@lemmy.world 4 points 8 months ago

it was behind the couch the whole time

[-] fuckingkangaroos@lemm.ee 50 points 8 months ago

So if they're charging more for bad drivers, they'll charge less for good drivers, right?

If one company raises rates on bad drivers and uses the difference to offer lower rates to other drivers, they'll get more customers.

[-] DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe 95 points 8 months ago

You should do stand-up, that was hilarious

[-] BambiDiego@lemmy.world 22 points 8 months ago

It was downright adorable

[-] fuckingkangaroos@lemm.ee 6 points 8 months ago

I literally started typing "please don't reply if it's just some knee-jerk response" then decided it wasn't necessary. Yet here we are.

[-] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 4 points 8 months ago

You'd think wouldn't you!

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[-] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 38 points 8 months ago

This post makes me really glad I didn't buy a Chevy Bolt the last time I bought a car. I thought the whole subcompact electric thing was cool, but this is kind of insane.

[-] humorlessrepost@lemmy.world 91 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

It’s not just electric, and it’s not just subcompacts. It’s pretty much every car with a cellular capability (onstar and competitors), whether you have service enabled or not.

Check for your make here: https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/categories/cars/

Nissan even has in their privacy policy that they can collect your “sexual activity, health diagnosis data, and genetic information” and will sell to advertisers “Inferences drawn from any Personal Data collected to create a profile about a consumer reflecting the consumer’s preferences, characteristics, psychological trends, predispositions, behavior, attitudes, intelligence, abilities, and aptitudes”. Not so realistic until you sync your phone and text message history to the car.

[-] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 26 points 8 months ago

Thanks! I checked and both my cars are too old to be a problem, and I don't see myself buying a car made after 2019... ever.

[-] subtext@lemmy.world 11 points 8 months ago

Closing your eyes and plugging your ears and ignoring the problem won’t make it go away, it’ll allow it to grow unfettered until 2050 when your 40 year old beater finally gives out and you have to buy a newer car.

[-] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Ah, okay, let me just nip on down to the GM R&D facility and ask them nicely to remove these features.

Seriously, what do you expect me to do other than not buy what they're selling? And if every car is like this, do I just never buy a car?

[-] subtext@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago

You can promote and share articles such as the Mozilla research that this outrage came from to raise awareness and a coalition of like-minded, privacy-focused individuals.

You can donate to non profits that are dedicated to bringing these privacy invasions to light and fighting them such as the EFF or the Mozilla Foundation.

You can write to your Senators or your Representative to let them know you’re unhappy with how these companies are treating your legislators’ constituents.

I have done all of the three above and I can at least say that I’m doing my part even if I’m not going to the GM R&D facility.

[-] BolexForSoup@kbin.social 7 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

This is a pretty recent problem. Most people who have cars from the mid-2010s, even into the late 2010s, probably don’t have anything to worry about unless they bought something pretty high-end.

[-] mirisgaiss@lemmy.world 7 points 8 months ago

this makes me so happy to have a 2005 truck with physical dials and a CD player and no fucking touch screen shit. every time I rent a car somewhere I despise the experience.

[-] Kbin_space_program@kbin.social 4 points 8 months ago

I test drove a Bolt before Covid. I found it extremely lacking, even compared to the Nissan Leaf.

[-] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 4 points 8 months ago

I think it'll take some kind of economic incident like the Oil Crisis to get car companies to make nice, small, electric cars. All they seem to want to make now are SUVs, CUVs, and trucks.

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[-] FfaerieOxide@kbin.social 35 points 8 months ago

Sometimes they will sell this data to insurance companies to raise your premium

Would it be illegal to fuck with whatever tech they use to spy on you like that so it falsely reports you drive safer than you do so your rates are lower?

[-] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 59 points 8 months ago

I don't think insurance would ever willingly lower your rates

[-] PhobosAnomaly@feddit.uk 8 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Obviously the final answer will be different in every jurisdiction, but I would think it'd be less of a fraud issue - you can't be accused of sending false information if you're sending no information.

I suspect where things would get dicey is in the car-as-a-service part - where the EULA of a car software would open you up to legal challenge if you changed any hardware or software function of the car.

It would absolutely 95% get laughed out of court, but not without leaving you with a hefty legal bill no doubt. Obviously the full answer would depend on your local legal system and lawyer's advice.

[-] mozz@mbin.grits.dev 8 points 8 months ago

There’s an easy rule of thumb you can use to answer this type of question.

Will the people with money have less?

If so, it’s illegal. Other way around is fine for some reason.

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[-] AlexWIWA@lemmy.ml 34 points 8 months ago

Infiniti put 3g chips in their car because they were cheap, now they don't work. Guess I don't need to worry.

[-] umbrella@lemmy.ml 7 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

the rare occasion when corporate penny pinching will actually be a good thing.

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[-] neuracnu 26 points 8 months ago

I just so happened to be looking up how to disable telemetry on the new Ford Mach-E vehicles and found this incredibly helpful thread on how Ford handles this:

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

tl;dr: it’s also a simple fuse pull.

[-] Death_Equity@lemmy.world 18 points 8 months ago

Likely the Bluetooth features are integrated with the same module that does OnStar, so keeping one and not the other isn't possible, unless the antenna for the OnStar is separate from the module and can be disconnected.

You could disconnect an antenna that is integrated with the module, but that requires disassembly of the module. Disassembly of the module may not be feasible.

[-] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 6 points 8 months ago

I'll check tomorrow to see if Bluetooth still works. I use tethered for android auto

[-] Death_Equity@lemmy.world 4 points 8 months ago

I looked at some wiring diagrams and forums; the wifi, Bluetooth, and OnStar are in one module. The module is able to be taken apart with a torx bit, I can't tell if it is a security torx. You would need some understanding of how electronics work to strategically break it so OnStar can't connect. There is the potential that no antenna can cause damage to the module, so be aware of that.

You can make a dummy antenna to plug in to make it so the module can't connect and lessen the likelihood of the entire module failing. There appears to be some ability for the car to phone home but I didn't find an answer if it was connecting to the phone, grabbing wifi somewhere, or if the dummy antenna still had enough connectivity.

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[-] yoz@aussie.zone 12 points 8 months ago

Or stop buying cars made by these companies.

[-] StupidBrotherInLaw@lemmy.world 33 points 8 months ago

They all do it, to varying extents. The only good way to avoid it is buying a car old enough to not collect your data.

[-] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 9 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

But there aren't many EVs that old

[-] StupidBrotherInLaw@lemmy.world 7 points 8 months ago

Yep, it's indeed an issue. Modifying our vehicles, like what you did, is the best alternative.

[-] scoobford@lemmy.zip 7 points 8 months ago

Could you share how you determined this?

I have a 2016 KIA with a similarly creepy system. The head unit is glued in, so disconnecting the antenna is not an easy task.

[-] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 7 points 8 months ago

Sure thing. I searched Chevy Bolt 2019 owners manual and got This. I then searched OnStar in that manual via Ctrl f and it gave the fuse.

I'd think those steps would be applicable for your car too.

I also found some handy discussions here just from a duck duck go search on disabling OnStar on a bolt https://www.chevybolt.org/threads/fuse-for-onstar.51684/ https://www.mychevybolt.com/threads/disabiling-onstar.5985/ https://www.reddit.com/r/BoltEV/comments/6b09sq/onstar_module_location_disable_onstar_in_bolt_ev/

[-] rikonium@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 8 months ago

See what kind of radio you have in there - if it's 3G then you're already set since it's likely been sunsetted.

This applies to 4Runner's but the gist may apply.

2019 and earlier MY have a 3G radio and that's gone. 2020+ have a 4G radio that should be disconnected via phone call first before hardware mods.

Disconnecting the antenna on that vehicle only reduces cellular range but there is also a fuse that can be pulled but that will be very model specific so checking your manual/fusebox/online documentation may help. (in Toyota's the only side effect is loss of microphone use for in-car calls)

[-] GreyLotus@thelemmy.club 4 points 8 months ago

For older cars, if the only "smart" thing you have is GPS, you should be fine since it only receives and doesn't transmit.

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this post was submitted on 24 Mar 2024

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