Do modern cars that are NOT equipped with GPS still have devices that could be activated to track you?

If the car has an integrated cellular phone, that can be used at the very least to see where you have been. Also if you have installed Lo-Jack, that is meant as a means of tracking the car’s location.

Cars equipped with plain GPS receivers cannot be tracked. These devices receive signals from the GPS satellites and unlike cell phones don’t send out signals.

You’re more likely to be tracked by the metallic strip in the cash you carry, or the RFID on the bottled water you’re drinking. Both of which are extremely unlikely.

But your charge card transaction are pretty easy to map. And your online activities are even easier to trace.

It’s easy to get concerned with these issues. But one must consider if their life is really worth tracking in the first place. Odds are against…

No. OnStar equipped cars can be. But you knew that already.
However, if you have an E-Z Pass you can be tracked at various tool booths and on E-Z Pass enabled roads.

There is an add-on system called LoJack that can be used to find cars – and errant spouses.

Here is the link to the Lojack system. It has gotten even better since I last looked.

Also don’t forget about your cell phone. Even without GPS, it can can be tracked based upon its cell tower proximity.

That is at least partly why the proposal for OBDIII was defeated. The proposal included the ability to remotely kill your car for non-compliance with emissions regulations… which basically means that if your “Check Engine” light is on, you’re immobilized. Other parts of the proposal included a transponder that would allow tracking your location.

~Of course, nobody would ever hack the system and kill cars at random, and there is no way that you could be issued a speeding ticket as a result of this tracking…