If you loan your car to someone, leave it at the shop or sell it on a whim, you may want to take a moment to read this little tidbit that will certainly prove to be useful and safe. When it comes to modern car tech, we can never be too careful. We are leaving trails all over the place.
Today, we dump a huge amount of personal data into our cars; something that our fore bearers never even thought about in their Matadors and Colony Parks. When we pair our car to our smart phone we offer even more personal data to the mercy of the next driver of the vehicle.
Thirty years ago, more than 70-percent of all auto thefts were for joyrides or petty crimes. Today, more than 50-percent of all cars are stolen for parts or content. Among the things that can be stolen are your privacy and peace of mind.
Setting your home address in the Navigation System for the “home, Jeeves” feeling is very convenient, but should be monitored when loaning out or selling your car. As a safety precaution, it is always a good idea to scrub your cars system clean of most recent places and, of course, your personal address.
Transferring your phone contacts is good to do if you are on-the-go. Remember, your recent calls (in and out) as well as text messages can be stored in the annals of your car’s hard drive, available to that nosy passenger who sat in the car while you went in and picked up your dry cleaning.
Here is a scary thought: you’ve left your home address programmed into your car, a car that is also linked to your garage door opener (or the opener is in the car) and the car has been stolen. Now the thief has the means to pick up a couple of buddies and go ravaging through your home.
Unpairing your Bluetooth Phone will usually remove the contacts and call history from the head unit. Navigation Systems also have the ability to clear recent destinations or restore the factory’s default settings. Others have the command to delete the settings and reboot the system. No matter which, it is easy and needful to do.
You can also reprogram your built-in garage door opener by checking the manual that came with it or the car’s owner’s manual.
These things may seem very inconvenient until you are standing outside looking at the spot where your car was once parked and realizing that the thief could be as tech savvy as you are. If you reading this please remember that car thieves read up and study emerging technology too.
Scrub the system every once in a while. Make sure that the car is the only thing a thief can get away with.
