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

 

Me thinks that is better answered by the vehicles manufacturer. As far a I know... there shouldn't be a problem with that...BUT....

 

I don`t think it would cause any problems considering that mid year, Ford will be offering the Smart Link module that will connect via the OBD-II port and this module will enable older models of Ford to have the same Ford Connect features as many of the 2017 vehicles.

I don`t recall the service provider but I think Ford said it`ll be Verizon and they`ll use the Ford Pass App which requires a constant internet connection.

Hope this helps you with your concerns.

 

It would also be able to relay speed and driving styles I.E. TPS RPM's and of course position. Kind of like a babysitter that they can use to write people up or fire. To some thats not an issue but if your under the gun and have to go go go they don't realize what it takes to do what they expect. They hide the agenda by saying it's to monitor engine codes and such.