How did the Tow truck driver disable my Ford App location?

[MavTime]

So there I was at a concert, Periodically checking on the Mav with the Ford App, and the App did it's job and kept my mind at ease that the Mav was still where I parked it. Well the App lied, ha ha! Got back to the lot after the show and the truck was towed, and the App never updated that it lost contact with the truck or anything, the truck still showed right where I parked it as I stood in an empty spot. How did he do it? Pull a fuse? Is there a way to prevent it from being disabled? I don't plan on getting towed again, but just curious.

Sponsored

 

[Carlitos_92]

It wasn't disabled.

I believe the app used to be able to track the vehicle "live," while moving etc. The app no longer does that. It simply marks the location where the vehicle was last shut off. So in your case the truck was going to show up in that lot until someone restarted it.

https://www.mavericktruckclub.com/forum/threads/track-truck-with-ford-pass-app.69838/post-1156327

 

[MavTime]

It wasn't disabled.

I believe the app used to be able to track the vehicle "live," while moving etc. The app no longer does that. It simply marks the location where the vehicle was last shut off. So in your case the truck was going to show up in that lot until someone restarted it.

https://www.mavericktruckclub.com/forum/threads/track-truck-with-ford-pass-app.69838/post-1156327

Thank you, that makes more sense than it being disabled. I guess I can stop checking the app now, ha ha. Quite a few people got towed that night, one guy had an AirTag in their car so he knew exactly where everyone ended up and got a jump on the crowd of angry people at the tow yard.

 

[Cancunbadlands]

Bank Repo?!
#saywhat

 

[JMJB]

So.....you parked your Mav where it would most probably get towed away , costing you hundreds of dollars , hours of your time , potential vehicle damage ..... but .....you kept an eye on it for some reason with your app ?
Why ...?

I guess you learned some basics ....

 

[stevj]

So.....you parked your Mav where it would most probably get towed away , costing you hundreds of dollars , hours of your time , potential vehicle damage ..... but .....you kept an eye on it for some reason with your app ?
Why ...?

I guess you learned some basics ....

Yep. Probably parked it where it should not have been.
Why else keep checking the app?
There's a lesson here.

Steve

 

[SafetyGuy]

From my experience, I believe you need to refresh the app ( pull the app page down while app is open), for it to refresh it's location.

Otherwise when you open the app it will only the last place you left it, and give you it's status at that point in time as well.

This way, it only wakes the truck up when you want to check on it, and not every time you just open the app itself. Saves the truck battery power this way, for when you need it!

Sorry to hear youwere towed, that always sucks...I had my pedal bike towed in The Netherlands and that was an ordeal to find it, and I did learn my lesson that week!

Have a good day,

Andy

 

[Old Young Man]

If you’re on the location page you can hit the circle and arrow in the upper right and it refreshes the location. It is limited in the number of repetitions you can do that on a certain period of time

 

[Atlasmetmav]

Great tip, but has anyone confirmed this with a Maverick that was actually moved “off-line” and then applied the “refresh” button?
I ask, because using the “counter clockwise location arrow” does put the Ford app page into a “refresh” but the time of “vehicle location” stays the say. That might be exactly how it should work, but I would feel better knowing if someone put this to the test. Don’t want to find out about a glitch, after someone steals my Mav. (2024 EB AWD)

 

[HeyBales]

If it hasn't moved, the time of the park data stays the same after a refresh.
(which isn't very accurate when too recent, 1 hr ago was actually 2 hrs ago)

If it did move, the time is updated.

Just did that Sun - wanted new OLM stats for fuel fillup, but it was still showing my prior turn off a few miles back.
Had to refresh location, then all the info updated I wanted. Including tire pressure.

Just did it now - no change to location, but tire pressure changed. Rather fast update too. (tad concerning)

 

[MakinDoForNow]

Aaahhh!!! Perhaps a change in tire pressure triggers truck to contact app and update it. (= Phantom 12v usage???).

 

[Glen Baker LLC]

Aaahhh!!! Perhaps a change in tire pressure triggers truck to contact app and update it. (= Phantom 12v usage???).

It's been months since I pulled fuse 11/12 again and have not had a situation where the interior lights have not come on. I cannot say the same when the fuse was installed or reinstalled for that matter.
It's been 48 hours since I drove my truck. Original flooded battery in a 2023 hybrid. So far so good, all the lights came on when I opened the door. I have driven only 86 miles in the last week.

 

[HeyBales]

Aaahhh!!! Perhaps a change in tire pressure triggers truck to contact app and update it. (= Phantom 12v usage???).

I'm sure it does to some degree.

But the TPMS is supposed to turn off after a while when wheel stops spinning, to conserve battery in sensor.
Since I have received an alert later - I can't recall now if it was say within 30 min of parking.

So there's a relay to turn off a radio during the upwards of 75 min going to sleep time.
And a place for a bug to happen and not turn off the receiver, even though the sensors did turn off at whatever time.

 

[Maverick2022XL]

He could have had a jammer too. They aren't overly expensive for low power ones. If I was a repo guy I'd definitely carry a wide band jammer and stick it in or on the vehicle before I repo'd it.

 

[Kenv24]

If it hasn't moved, the time of the park data stays the same after a refresh.
(which isn't very accurate when too recent, 1 hr ago was actually 2 hrs ago)

If it did move, the time is updated.

Just did that Sun - wanted new OLM stats for fuel fillup, but it was still showing my prior turn off a few miles back.
Had to refresh location, then all the info updated I wanted. Including tire pressure.

Just did it now - no change to location, but tire pressure changed. Rather fast update too. (tad concerning)

Yep....pretty simple....if the truck is not started and moved...it will still show the LAST place it was turned off.

Sponsored