[lucienpsmith]

I have a 2018 Ford Transit, and wondering if protecting the OBD port from unauthorized access is a necessary thing to prevent vehicle hijacking/hot-wiring?

I see products like this on the market to secure/relocate your OBD port:
VAN SECURITY Ford Transit / Transit connect 2000 - on dummy OBD port relocation | eBay
https://www.amazon.com/FOXWELL-Diag...jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

 

[surly Bill]

This is the first I've heard of that anywhere. The article is about a 10 year old Connect, so it's very possible this backdoor has been closed by Ford software.

 

[ranxerox]

 

[Van Gogh]

I have a 2018 Ford Transit, and wondering if protecting the OBD port from unauthorized access is a necessary thing to prevent vehicle hijacking/hot-wiring?

I see products like this on the market to secure/relocate your OBD port:
VAN SECURITY Ford Transit / Transit connect 2000 - on dummy OBD port relocation | eBay
https://www.amazon.com/FOXWELL-Diag...jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

I'm much more concerned with break-in theft of items than with theft of the entire vehicle, so I'll spend on slick locks first, plus my to-be-installed e-stopp electric parking brake is going to have hidden switches so you have to find them to disable the p-brake.

But this is kind of cool idea if you frequent someplace where total vehicle theft is a concern. I visit Mexico a lot, and while I love the country and 90% of the people, inequality is so high that theft is more common, so I might look at this someday. Thanks for finding it. Let us know how it goes if you get one.

But you may want until after the warranty expires since the obd ii port is fairly critical for maintenance and it might give a dealership an excuse not to cover something. Just a thought.

Cheers.

 

[Tijoe]

If you live in an urban area where G4/LTE service is readily available, and car thefts are high, I would invest in a "Lojack" system, and an interior driver seat monitoring camera system. When you stop the van, and enable the system, if someone is able to start your vehicle and start driving it, you will get an alert on you phone, and the system will start transmiiting the vehicle's gps location. Many of these systems have a "kill" feature so that you can stop the vehicle from driving. (You could be just like PoPo's vehicles.)
When the thief/s can no longer drive the vehicle, they will quickly depart, but you will have who stole it recorded on the driver viewing camera.

 

[killadawg09]

That is why using tuning software like HPtuners adds another level of protection. you can get/create an anti theft tune which, when applied, renders your ECU (regardless of any hack) locked and your vehicles engine will turn over endlessly but never spark. Only way thieves can start your vehicle is to factory reset.. not sure many thieves are gonna have factory ECU calibration software/obd 2 scanner/programmer, or another ECU unit to swap out in 5 min.. And you get the added benefit of having a full ECU programmer to do nice upgrades to the Transmission and other settings (like adding larger tires etc..), fuel economy, power for towing, etc.. etc..

 

[njvagabond]

That is why using tuning software like HPtuners adds another level of protection. you can get/create an anti theft tune which, when applied, renders your ECU (regardless of any hack) locked and your vehicles engine will turn over endlessly but never spark. Only way thieves can start your vehicle is to factory reset.. not sure many thieves are gonna have factory ECU calibration software/obd 2 scanner/programmer, or another ECU unit to swap out in 5 min.. And you get the added benefit of having a full ECU programmer to do nice upgrades to the Transmission and other settings (like adding larger tires etc..), fuel economy, power for towing, etc.. etc..

This sounds very interesting. So you use a fancy OBD dongle to load a "tune" to disable the signal to the coils (modern day version of pulling the wire from your distributor cap). Is this done every time you want to enable the anti-theft.
How is the signal enabled when you want to start the van. Is the factory reset required or is there some sort of on/off controlled by a password. I assume this is all done with a phone app through a Bluetooth connection. Is such a tune available for the Transit? Tell me more.

 

[killadawg09]

you need to flash the proper tune with the calibration you want .. tow / fuel eco / anti-theft etc.. some Tuners come with an option to do a quick flash (a couple minutes to copy to ECU etc.. and off you go.. some have a dash display in which you can just click to the tune you wish.. some are cable connections, and some allow a module that is Bluetooth and some require a laptop hooked up.. ( MPVI2 – HPTuners has Bluetooth.. you need 2 credits for the Transit 3.5 EB as the 3.3 EB requires 4 credits) 5Star tuning offer some options to those who don't want to do this themselves (2015-2020 Transit 3.5L EB/3.7L Tuners & Programmers Archives - 5 Star Tuning).. etc.. I self tune, Motec, HPtuners, Cobb, AEM, etc.. on my vehicles (even opensource tune on my older stuff.. so I'm not locked in by what a tuning company may or may not offer.. I can't speak for any shop as I DIY.. (I have taken many courses and have tuned my own track/rallyX cars, not for the "faint at heart".. Yet, its not black magic, it's just applied math and chemistry.. how much air does my fuel need to create the most optimal combustion etc.. and not pre-ignite, bend a rod, stall out, etc.. and the many strategies a modern ECU has in doing this.. Best of luck.. I'm also not worried about theft, that's what my insurance is for!!