So I’m just minding my own business when an email pops up: “You are due for an oil change.” It had my exact mileage on the Jeep. Handy? Sure. But why are they contacting me about something they can only know if they’re tracking me? Creepy? Absolutely.
I keep letting it go and ignoring it. Despite warnings of Car Companies Sharing Data with Insurance Companies or stories of specifically jeep customer anger due to Pop Up Ads in Cars. Basically they are ALL Tracking your Data and Selling It.
So today I finally got fed up with the idea that I paid for my vehicle in full, but I’m still being treated like a product they can keep making money off.
Hello Jeep
I started searching the web, but there were too many variations and conflicting advice. So I asked GPT through Duck.ai—it told me it couldn’t help me remove it “for reasons,” and I argued for about ten minutes before giving up.
Then I switched to Claude. Claude acted like a buddy who works in a garage and gave me four options—three easy and one difficult. I went with the easy route: removing the antenna by disconnecting a coax cable. I’m pretty sure I even found a fifth way, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
The Jeep Uconnect box is under the driver’s side steering wheel. Under the steering wheel there’s a panel you can pull off with a bit of force. Crawl in upside down, let the blood rush to your head, and whatever you do—don’t get stuck. (I can’t help you there… and your step-sister might be nearby.)
Under there you’ll find the box, with cables running in different directions. I followed a thicker coax-style cable, and it was plugged in. I thought, “This looks easy,” and it was.
It basically amounts to something like a USB-A style input—so I wasn’t sure what I was disconnecting (power to the unit? power to the antenna?). But I figured I’d check my progress.
Let's connect....
Nope. No connection.
At that point I did get a little worried: like maybe now the car might not work, or something “evil” might happen. So far, nothing. It pops up with an error message telling me to take it to the dealer. I hit OK, and it hasn’t bothered me again until I turn the vehicle off and start it back up.
The radio still works. Satellite radio still works too (I don’t pay for it, but I did hear the ad to call the 800 number when I switched over). Basically, if you don’t use certain features, you seem fine.
I’m going to keep running it like this for a while and see what happens next. The downside feels minimal, and the upside is that I’m not letting them keep milking me once I’ve already purchased the item that I now own.
I keep letting it go and ignoring it. Despite warnings of Car Companies Sharing Data with Insurance Companies or stories of specifically jeep customer anger due to Pop Up Ads in Cars. Basically they are ALL Tracking your Data and Selling It.
So today I finally got fed up with the idea that I paid for my vehicle in full, but I’m still being treated like a product they can keep making money off.
Hello Jeep
I started searching the web, but there were too many variations and conflicting advice. So I asked GPT through Duck.ai—it told me it couldn’t help me remove it “for reasons,” and I argued for about ten minutes before giving up.
Then I switched to Claude. Claude acted like a buddy who works in a garage and gave me four options—three easy and one difficult. I went with the easy route: removing the antenna by disconnecting a coax cable. I’m pretty sure I even found a fifth way, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
The Jeep Uconnect box is under the driver’s side steering wheel. Under the steering wheel there’s a panel you can pull off with a bit of force. Crawl in upside down, let the blood rush to your head, and whatever you do—don’t get stuck. (I can’t help you there… and your step-sister might be nearby.)
Under there you’ll find the box, with cables running in different directions. I followed a thicker coax-style cable, and it was plugged in. I thought, “This looks easy,” and it was.
It basically amounts to something like a USB-A style input—so I wasn’t sure what I was disconnecting (power to the unit? power to the antenna?). But I figured I’d check my progress.
Let's connect....
Nope. No connection.
At that point I did get a little worried: like maybe now the car might not work, or something “evil” might happen. So far, nothing. It pops up with an error message telling me to take it to the dealer. I hit OK, and it hasn’t bothered me again until I turn the vehicle off and start it back up.
The radio still works. Satellite radio still works too (I don’t pay for it, but I did hear the ad to call the 800 number when I switched over). Basically, if you don’t use certain features, you seem fine.
I’m going to keep running it like this for a while and see what happens next. The downside feels minimal, and the upside is that I’m not letting them keep milking me once I’ve already purchased the item that I now own.
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