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Help me identify possible tracking device found in my car

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Re: Help me identify possible tracking device found in my car

#141
post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks also, I get it now. I used to do this manually sometimes in the Netherlands to warm up the ice to make it easier to scrape off. But it involved the spare key to relock it while running and also to set the heat to full blast. We never get minus 40 though and where I live now it doesn't even freeze :) And as we also have pretty tiny engines here, it takes a long time to heat up this way because first the cooling…

Almost every car I’ve recently owned and/or rented has this option: unlock the car, then hold down the unlock button to roll all the windows down (and in some models, additionally open the sunroof).

Why on earth?

Re: Help me identify possible tracking device found in my car

#142
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, people are just imagining the NSA led global surveillance apparatus.

The NSA isn't interested enough in you to send somebody to your house to break into your car and install a gps tracker.

Imagine if they got some in at an F&I company and convinced car dealers to install the surveillance without the installers even being aware of it

Re: Help me identify possible tracking device found in my car

#143
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most people in the US do not drive manuals. You can get them in manuals but you have to hack some stuff, and yea, it will stall your car out if you start it in gear. In the US they are largely for convenience so you can heat or cool your car before you go out.

No manual I have ever driven will even start without the clutch engaged, so I assume a remote starter can bypass that somehow? I always leave my manual car in gear in the opposite the direction the car would be likely to roll if the emergency brake ever failed. (If the car would roll forward, put it in reverse. If it would roll backwards put it in 1st).

Just to clarify for less automobile oriented people: The clutch is engaged when the pedal is not being pressed, and disengages when pressed. Starting a manual car in gear without the clutch pedal fully pressed leaves the power train connected to the motor, and so the car moves when the starter motor turns the engine.

Re: Help me identify possible tracking device found in my car

#144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the NSA is certainly real, the likelihood of them bugging your car unless you're smuggling nuclear secrets is rather low the three letter agencies don't care about people who play video games and watch cat videos all day

And yet they engage in mass surveillance, even of their own citizens.

No, no. That's done by the contractors they ship data to. Otherwise they would be breaking federal laws.

Re: Help me identify possible tracking device found in my car

#145
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, people are just imagining the NSA led global surveillance apparatus.

the NSA is certainly real, the likelihood of them bugging your car unless you're smuggling nuclear secrets is rather low the three letter agencies don't care about people who play video games and watch cat videos all day

> unless you're smuggling nuclear secrets

unless you're suspected of smuggling nuclear secrets

ftfy

Re: Help me identify possible tracking device found in my car

#146

This reminds me of that time a guy on Reddit found a tracker on his car and ended up being FBI's. https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/dmh5s/does_this... https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/doe17/update_to...

That’s a fascinating read. Thanks.

Re: Help me identify possible tracking device found in my car

#147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here it's cold in the winter and it is definitely illegal to install a remote start system in a car with a manual transmission. Before my life in tech I worked in car audio installs back in the 90s. One day one of the senior installer techs put a remote start in his own Mazda truck which had a manual transmission. A bit of time went by and we were outside smoking one day when he must have hit the button in this pocke…

A remote start should have a slider switch and a lock for it, so you can't "push the button" by sitting on it.

My factory one on a factory fob requires 3 presses within a second to activate.

Re: Help me identify possible tracking device found in my car

#148
post #62
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cold weather primarily. You need the engine to warm up before driving and it’s much nicer to have the heater warm up the car and loosen ice on the windows. You can run outside and start the car then come back, as I did growing up in a cold region, but remote start is sooo much nicer.

Cars built in the last 15 years usually don't need to be warned up: https://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/car-technology/a19086/... But yeah, icy/foggy windows are a pain to clear. I live in Montreal, and when I had an ICE car, most days, it was fine to just de-icing the windows, then start the motor, and slowly roll out of the alley. Admittedly, most winter days, it's not that cold. Kind of drives me crazy, the smel…

> But yeah, icy/foggy windows are a pain to clear.

I've had cars with auxiliary heat just for this purpose.

Re: Help me identify possible tracking device found in my car

#149
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, people are just imagining the NSA led global surveillance apparatus.

the NSA is certainly real, the likelihood of them bugging your car unless you're smuggling nuclear secrets is rather low the three letter agencies don't care about people who play video games and watch cat videos all day

For several months, keyless entry stopped working on my car. It fixed itself. My unlikely conspiracy theory is I was being tracked and interference kept the keyfob from working.

Re: Help me identify possible tracking device found in my car

#150

This reminds me of that time a guy on Reddit found a tracker on his car and ended up being FBI's. https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/dmh5s/does_this... https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/doe17/update_to...

Now they just ask your cell phone company.
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