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OBD port GPS dongle

2K views 1 reply 2 participants last post by  R.S.LOGAN 
#1 ·
I was wondering if Ford has any safety concern with aftermarket GPS dongles connected into the OBD port of their vehicles?
Is there any evidence of a OBD GPS dongle affecting the safety of a vehicle WHILE it is being driven?

The OBD port provides information on a car's inner workings, and these dongles would at least indirectly connect the Internet to the CAN "bus," which shuttles information to the electronic control units (ECUs) that control the brakes, steering, transmission and other systems.

The port is simply meant to convey diagnostic trouble codes to a car owner or mechanic. Likewise, most cars' internal networks were never supposed to be connected to the Internet, and as a result, have loose or nonexistent security safeguards.

What happens when the device is connected to the vehicle while the vehicle is in operation? Could the vehicle — or specific Electronic Control Units (ECU) — shift automatically to diagnostic mode?
This could have an impact on how data traffic is prioritized on the CAN bus which could cause the vehicle to malfunction because the priority might not be given to specific data as it would if the vehicle was set to normal driving mode.
To the extent that the dongle may cause the vehicle to shift to diagnostic mode and to perform in a way that is unsafe for the use of the vehicle on public road, then there is a serious safety issue.

I have some concern over the safety of these units being installed on a fleet of Ford F250's (2005-2015) at my place of employment.

Any info you have would be helpful.
Thanks
 
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