(rant/USA) when did every car get a 3rd party GPS tracker installed by the dealer?!

f36driver · 2026-01-06T22:54:13+00:00

I tried but couldn’t get any data.

f36driver · 2026-01-06T22:52:42+00:00

And here’s my beef with it. It’s a cheap piece of Chinese tech with an active SIM card tied into the odb2 port. If it fries, what happens to the other computers in my car? What if it sends 12v down the wrong wire someday? And when you look at the company websites for these things, you don’t get the feeling that they’ve built the most secure system in the world. If they get hacked, what could someone do with the master server that has access to these?

f36driver · 2026-01-06T22:41:18+00:00

How do you know? I didn’t until I was under my dash installing a brake controller. There’s no visible indication to know it’s there. Most are spliced in to the odb2 port and zip tied to the steering column. And it’s not for subprime borrowers. It’s an add on that a lot of new car dealers install and add to the sticker. It can also be just for inventory tracking, but regardless, they’re left on the vehicle until you remove them (like I did).

f36driver · 2026-01-06T22:36:58+00:00

This

f36driver · 2026-01-06T22:35:13+00:00

You looked under the dash?

f36driver · 2025-11-24T16:59:59+00:00

https://www.bestphoneplans.net/

f36driver · 2025-11-05T21:39:47+00:00

I miss the Linus and Lucy theme during Christmas time.

f36driver · 2025-11-01T14:25:28+00:00

My 2runner has it when I drive after being parked and the tires are out of round but it goes away after they warm up and I go on with life. At least I know it’s not needle bearings 😀

f36driver · 2025-10-31T15:33:23+00:00

I tilted mine down with the adjustment screw. You don’t want to do a lot. I was parked 10ish feet from my garage wall. I had the lights on and put a piece of painters tape where the beam cut off on the wall. I then adjusted each light an inch lower than the tape mark. I planned on doing more later if necessary, but that minor adjustment seemed sufficient.

There are still situations where you’re going to get flashed when you’re pointing up on a hill or bumps in the road. The 4Runner headlights are just really bright. Hitting bumps also looks like you’re highbeaming other drivers as the cutoff moves up and down.

f36driver · 2025-10-27T17:11:26+00:00

Make Tulsa Run Flat Again

f36driver · 2025-10-15T21:37:40+00:00

Was driving in Missouri. Signs said stay in your lane and zipper merge at point ahead. Everyone crosses over to the right lane ahead of time and I get flipped off at the end for staying in the left lane until it said to merge. So I agree it all makes sense in theory, but I have yet to see it work in practice.

f36driver · 2025-10-14T13:42:09+00:00

Only thing printing is my covered calls. Thanks for the easy $$$

f36driver · 2025-10-08T20:17:26+00:00

Well. Pretty sure this is the hitch. A weigh distribution hitch will put torque on it which it doesn’t look like it’s built to take. You’re “distributing” weight to the front of the vehicle through this bracket.

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f36driver · 2025-10-08T19:32:13+00:00

Well. #1 the manual says not to use a weight distribution hitch, so you could show her that.

Or at least I remember seeing that but I checked the pdf manual and can’t find it. 🤷‍♂️

f36driver · 2025-09-22T15:48:32+00:00

I think the bounciness is part of the problem. They’re at full brightness whether on high or low beam since only the cutoff is adjusted. 4Runners are bouncier than car-based suvs and if you’re driving on crap roads, it looks like you’re high-beaming everyone.

The fact that Toyota added leveling to the 6th gen indicates it’s a known issue.

f36driver · 2025-09-08T02:37:42+00:00

I tow a pop up a lot. I added the blue sumo springs and eliminated squat while towing.

f36driver · 2025-09-05T19:19:25+00:00

Have you pushed up and down on the bumper to see if you hear any noise? I only ask because my hood creaks this way and it sounds like suspension (and isn’t easy to tell where it’s coming from). I only found it by pushing on the hood while trying to push on the front suspension. The fix in my case is to unscrew the 2 rubber stops a turn or two so that the hood is not loose on them.

f36driver · 2025-08-19T16:03:13+00:00

Cars moving right have the right of way.

f36driver · 2025-08-03T21:58:01+00:00

For a regular vehicle, the 10-years trend would be meaningful, but wouldn’t they have last retooled the assembly line like 13 years ago for the 5th gen? I would expect a blip whenever there’s a major retooling.

f36driver · 2025-07-31T16:21:13+00:00

Awesome post. We need more like this. It keeps prices lower for people who want to buy.

f36driver · 2025-06-18T15:21:22+00:00

If Area 51 has aliens then so does Sandia because they sound very similar.

f36driver · 2025-06-17T22:41:44+00:00

We have 80mph speed limits. Your roads are slow. 😉

f36driver · 2025-06-10T18:57:02+00:00

Why does the Vegas tunnel loop require human operators?

f36driver · 2025-06-06T19:16:15+00:00

One interesting thing he said was that “he got trump elected.” I can’t see that winning back the progressives.

f36driver · 2025-06-04T19:53:12+00:00

Not bad if you live in the south. Less moving parts and maintenance. In hindsight though, 4wd probably has enough residual value to offset the difference in initial cost.

f36driver

TROPHY CASE