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

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

96 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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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[–] [email protected] 116 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 7 months ago

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

[–] [email protected] 67 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 14 points 7 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 17 points 7 months ago (1 children)

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

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[–] [email protected] 61 points 7 months ago (3 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 7 months ago

It's in your glove.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 7 months ago

Have you looked in your socks?

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[–] [email protected] 42 points 7 months ago (5 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 96 points 7 months ago (2 children)

You should do stand-up, that was hilarious

[–] [email protected] 22 points 7 months ago

It was downright adorable

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[–] [email protected] 37 points 7 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

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

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[–] [email protected] 34 points 7 months ago (5 children)

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?

[–] [email protected] 65 points 7 months ago (5 children)

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

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 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.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 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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[–] [email protected] 32 points 7 months ago (6 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 93 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 7 months ago (2 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago (2 children)

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.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 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.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 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.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

Dude, every new car tracks you now.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago

I bought a Suzuki swift and I dont think it tracks

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 7 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.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 7 months ago (6 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 7 months ago

Disassembly is always feasible. Brandishes Hammer

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Your first mistake is buying Chevy.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 7 months ago (5 children)

Only cheap EV, not much of a choice

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago (2 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 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/

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