DANGER ALERT - OBD Insurance Monitors

Boxster1971

2023 Sprinter 2500 144wb AWD
Got this warning today from SAE.
"Dear SAE International Member,

We want to make you aware of an issue that was brought to our attention. Last week, we were notified that one of our members believes they had experienced an electronic issue with their vehicle after installing, voluntarily, an automatic OBDII monitoring device provided by one of our valued SAE International Membership Program Partners, Liberty Mutual. Similar devices are offered by several other auto insurance providers as an optional program that drivers may participate in to potentially lower insurance rates based on their driving patterns and behaviors. It is important to note that Liberty Mutual does not offer this program in all states and use of this device is not required in order to receive great SAE International Member-only discounts.

Liberty Mutual is currently assisting our member to investigate and resolve this issue. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Liberty Mutual at 866.274.0892 or SAE International at 877.606.7323 (U.S. and Canada only) or 724.776.4970 (Outside U.S. and Canada).

Matt Creech
Business Unit Leader
Membership & Sections"


- - Mike
2013 Airstream Interstate on 2012 Sprinter
 
D

Deleted member 50714

Guest
Hey guys
This week I have had three vehicles roll though the shop with ABS, Instrument panel issues and one lit up like a Christmas tree.

All three of these vehicles were Dodges, one a 2005 Sprinter.
In each case they had what we would call an OBD2 fault recorder, but this thing is a recording device plugged into the OBD2 diagnostic socket insurance companies to gauge your driving habits promising it seems lower premiums.

So far State Farm & Progressive are the clowns seemingly pedaling this idea, and all I can tell you is that in the case of a Sprinter and Dodge Durango it corrupted the Becm modules and the instrument clusters. So beware if these company's start mentioning it.

After fixing the Sprinter I felt like drop kicking the stupid thing like a good Auzzie No Rules Fooball player over the shop fence. Crooked the whole vehicle!
Expensive repair.
Beware Dennis
Makes question if I should use ULTRA GAUGE BLUE?
 

eric_f

New member
I wanted to add that I've seen SRS lamps illuminate on two Toyotas after these have been plugged in as well.
 

BenJohnson

2006 2500 T1N
Anyone who would consider installing one of these to possibly save a few $ is out of their mind! Does anyone really believe the insurance companies have our best interests at hand?:idunno:
That is the right kind of thinking. Why would insurance companies spend the money on gadgets that give customers lower premiums? Answer - they wouldn't. They install gadgets so that they can get better proof so that they can deny claims and save money.

It is ALWAYS about the almighty buck. Corporations are NEVER altruistic. Only the Dalai Lama, and he doesn't own a sprinter.
 

Midwestdrifter

Engineer In Residence
That is the right kind of thinking. Why would insurance companies spend the money on gadgets that give customers lower premiums? Answer - they wouldn't. They install gadgets so that they can get better proof so that they can deny claims and save money.

It is ALWAYS about the almighty buck. Corporations are NEVER altruistic. Only the Dalai Lama, and he doesn't own a sprinter.
Believe it or not, insurance companies will maximize profit by lowering the premiums for good drivers. How is this? The competition for good drivers is strong with insurance companies. This is because these drivers pay regularly, and rarely have a claim. These are the money makers. These good drivers are tough to identify for insurance companies, because bad drivers will still often have longish streaks of no reported accidents. The OBD monitors give the insurance companies a very good idea of how a person drives. They are willing to lower their rates, because they have a statistical and mathematical reason to. This allows them to keep more good drivers around by charging lower fees, and allows them to weed out the expensive bad drivers.

Obviously no corporation can be expected to act in opposition to their own self interest and profit unless the law says otherwise. :cheers:
 

hack34223

New member
It's the stupidest thing. If you break hard more the 3 times a month, you are a bad driver. You are penalized for that. If someone pulls out in front of you it means you are going to fast and they say you are a bad driver and assed it against you. These on board devised are an intrusion into our lives and you should not alone them in your cars. If you are driving to slow on a road you are at fault and there computer records that. If you drive over the speed limit it records that and you are at risk. Don't let them into your car!
 

SILVERFOX

Member
....So if you are insured by the same aszholes then you should go hard and smack them with a claim on their own policy.

The professional dissagree-ers would surely try to wriggle out of that.

I wonder if it is possible that if their monitors are corrupting ECUs and BCMs that they could cause brake malfunction, stability control failure, airbag failure leading to death or injury.

What I would like to know is how in the hell would that be legal without the consent of the vehicle owner.

Nick
 
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kensuelo

Member
****, I just received my ODBII dongle from Metromile and plugged it in this morning!

In my case, their rate is nearly 50% that of any major insurance company. I wasn't stoked on having my data being tracked but that equates to almost $100/month savings for me so I was willing to give it a try. Now i'm having second thoughts...

FWIW, the *current* Terms and Conditions clearly state that telemetry data will not be used unless expressly approved by me, the policy holder. But those terms could change at any time without me knowing....
 
D

Deleted member 50714

Guest
I wonder if a driver profile could be used in a court of law?
 

hoosierrun

Active member
Let me tell you my experience about these devices. I was a driver for my employer and they decided to add these to help enforce against employee speeders using fleet vehicles. Definitely good intentions from that standpoint. However... highway US19 was under construction for a few years and they kept shifting the roadway lanes over about 50 yards or so while building overpasses. It just so happens that US19, in the area I drive, has frontage roads with 35 MPH speed limits. So guess who got busted for doing 20 over the limit? They recorded me doing 55 on a 35 MPH road. Needless to say, my confidence in the system went downhill immediately. I would never allow an insurance company to put one of these on a personal vehicle.
 

kensuelo

Member
Sure enough!

Immediately after plugging in the Metromile transponder my Sprinter began having consistent starting issues where the starter motor wouldn’t crank,

Luckily they offer a 12v plug-in version. Seems pretty clear these ODBII trackers don’t play nice with T1N firmware


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

opselite

Active member
I use metromile insurance which uses one of these devices. I have these on all my vehicles. I just installed on my 2005 sprinter. No issues to report so far on the sprinter but my 2000 Jetta TDI has had a sensor go bad as a result of plugging the unit in while ACC was on. I think I did this with a scan gauge as well :(

I always make sure car is off before adding/remove these devices now.

The tracker device is pretty awesome in terms of features since there is a connected app.

* GPS tracked so I can spy on my family and find out where my car is.
* Tracks MPG and trip times included source and destination of route with map
* Scans for OBDII codes then sends popover message to phone if code is detected
* Insurance is low as a result of using Metromile as I live in the city and sometimes don't use car for weeks


I do have a few of codes on my sprinter that the device told me about. I think they are legit codes though.

* low boost (fixed)
* open circuit for glow plug
* bad spark plug ( just occurred) ;)
 

drbutton

Member
I recall Allstate calling me about installing one of these monitoring devices on my car some number of years ago. I rejected the notion out-of-hand. Now I am MORE certain of my decision. I have enough to fear with my CPUs going bad on their own without this additional risk. I'll let the dealer scan for codes if I have an issue, thank you.
 

BrennWagon

He’s just this guy, you know?
I had an insurance monitor from Progressive installed in our old Volvo V70 for a few months. My advice is that unless you never use the brakes don’t bother. It would beep, indicating and recording excessive braking almost every time my foot hit the pedal enough to actually engage the brakes. While I had no accidents, obeyed speed limits, and drove extra carefully and conservatively while this monitor was installed I was granted no discounts.
 

IdleUp

Member
Hey guys
This week I have had three vehicles roll though the shop with ABS, Instrument panel issues and one lit up like a Christmas tree.

All three of these vehicles were Dodges, one a 2005 Sprinter.
In each case they had what we would call an OBD2 fault recorder, but this thing is a recording device plugged into the OBD2 diagnostic socket insurance companies to gauge your driving habits promising it seems lower premiums.

So far State Farm & Progressive are the clowns seemingly pedaling this idea, and all I can tell you is that in the case of a Sprinter and Dodge Durango it corrupted the Becm modules and the instrument clusters. So beware if these company's start mentioning it.

After fixing the Sprinter I felt like drop kicking the stupid thing like a good Auzzie No Rules Fooball player over the shop fence. Crooked the whole vehicle!
Expensive repair.
Beware Dennis

The problem with these OBD readers is they are also transmitters to transmit your driving action to their server. It's the wifi transmitter that gets into the processors and screws things up. As if we don't pay enough now we have to be spied on like Facebook or Google.

Stay Safe - Mike
 

IdleUp

Member
Thanks for the post - I learned the hard way when I was given OBD devices from my insurance company so i could qualify for a better rate from my driving. Regretfully, I experienced problems as well. Now they use your phone to track you and monitor your speed, gee as if we ain't paying enough already

Stay Safe - Mike
 

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