My father has been missing since November 7th. He was seen near the interstate on the morning he disappeared. We called Lexus to see if he could be traced by the GPS in his car, but we learned that his GPS is aftermarket and there was nothing they could do. We were unaware of this as he had never mentioned it. He bought the car used somewhere in Atlanta a few years ago. It is a white 2006 SC430. I was hoping that if we could track down who made his GPS, we could track it through them. As no one in our family knows much about GPS systems, I am asking if any of you could give me information about what different brands of aftermarket in-dash GPS systems there are out there. I don't know if anything can be done, but any information would be helpful. Thank you.

 

im sorry to hear about your dad.

some aftermarket in dash gps systems include pioneer, kenwood, alpine, etc.

i dont know how you can track them though.

 

Really sorry to read this and pray for his safe return. If his GPS is aftermarket, then it is gonna be a bit harder to track without some more information. Just about every major manufacturer, including a few offbrand ones, has some sort of GPS capability in their cars. You would need to know what brand GPS unit he has in his, and better yet a serial number for that unit would help to narrow it down. Since you say that he bought the car used, and it may have already been installed, you may not have that info. If your dad was the one who bought it, then he may at least still have the box,or instruction packet with his belongings at home and a serial number should be there. Given the brand and serial number, police can use this info the see where that car was last seen via satellite. Other methods of tracing him would be to have his wife call his credit card companies to see where he may have stopped to get gas/food/ etc. You may need police intervention with this one tho, not sure. At least this way, you can get a fix for the direction he was travelling. Missing persons report is DEF in order since it has been well over 24 hours missing.

 

Thanks. Missing persons has been filed, the police are on it. No credit card usage so far. He has never mentioned the GPS being aftermarket. We had always assumed it was factory. No serial numbers of any kind. I have the vin number for his car but that's it. I am going to try and find the place where he bought the car, they may have record of something. But if they don't, I am just going to try any company I can find a number for. I am hopeful that the police will find something, but I have to try everything. Thank you, everyone.

 

Hoping the best for your father's safe return.

WRT to GPS, not all of them can be "tracked" as most GPS unit are just receivers that use the satelite's clock signal for triangulation purposes. The ones that have a "transceiver" can send a signal to a tracking service, but that is usually done through a cellular network connection or offline by saving the data on a card and then synchronizign that data once the card is inserted in a computer with the service's software. Toyota/Lexus Entune works on the cellular network

Your best bet is to find if your dad had a cell phone, and have the police trace the last known location through the wireless carrier. All wireless carrier are obligated by law to track location either through the towers or through the coordinates provided by the built in gps chip if equiped.