The joy of a Toyota GR Corolla Circuit Edition owner was short-lived when the car’s battery died less than a month after purchase.
According to Anthony Do, the incident was caused by a GPS tracker installed on his car without his knowledge.
In a video lasting over five minutes, Do mentioned that before discovering the hidden GPS tracker, he saw a Facebook post by a GR Corolla tuner who claimed that he couldn’t work on the car due to a similar device.
Subsequently, Do decided to pry open the lower part of his car’s dashboard panel to see for himself. Lo and behold, Do actually found a GPS tracker plugged into the OBD2 port of his car.
This was strange to Do as he stated that he turned down the dealer’s offer to install a GPS tracker when buying the GR Corolla. He further claimed that he purchased the car outright, so the dealer or financial institution had no reason to track his vehicle.
Why is this concerning?
Firstly, the data obtained (such as the vehicle’s location) can be used by irresponsible parties to commit crimes such as car theft. Secondly, the data can also be sold to third parties such as insurance companies.
In Malaysia, Toyota vehicles sold by UMW Toyota Motor can be optionally fitted with Vehicle Telematics System (VTS), which utilises GPS data to track the location of vehicles in real time in case of theft and to keep track the distance and trip history.
The VTS will also dispatch an SOS call to the Toyota call center in case of an accident.
