New 2023 key reprogramming running board question

[orange]

Hello guys,

New here, but I have owned a used 2011 1500 for 8 years and just purchased a brand new 2023 1500 Laramie (1 of 2 left in the lot loaded up the *****) out of state.

My sister picked it up at the dealer. It'll be transported to me in the next few days.

When the dealer delivered the truck they told her the 2nd fob was in the center console. She didn't check. Drove home, didn't find it, call me, I called the dealer, turned the truck upside down, no key. Dealer kept saying it was in the truck, check again, check again, check again. Finally I told her to get into the truck, close the door, turn it on, get out with the key she had with her while the truck was still running and close the door. Sure enough, the truck honked, so no key inside. Dealer asked to drive the truck back and they programmed a new one fob for free. Great!

The tech that programmed the new key today told her that the running board would not be deploying because there is a "reset perido" and that it would take at least 30 minutes but could take longer.

But... It's been a couple of hours and it still not working. Everything else seems to work fine, just the boards will not deploy, with either fob (so even with the one that originally came with the truck).

Service is already closed for the day, they do not open tomorrow, she works on Monday and the truck is going to be picked on Tuesday morning to be transported to me. So no point in trying to talk to the dealer again.

I tried googling about this (also how I came across this site) and there are a zillion pages, videos and posts in the internet about how to reprogram a key, nightmares after reprogramming a key, running boards not working for a variety of reasons, but I did not find anything about the so called "reset period".

Does anyone know anything about the "reset period" after programming a new key for one of these trucks?

Worse case scenario I'll take it the local dealer here when the truck arrives this coming week.

Thanks in advance.

- Orange

 

[DanAR]

I have a 23 Limited and I’m unaware of the key fob having any running board function. Are you wanting the running boards to deploy when the doors are unlocked? Mine (unless I’m missing something) deploy when any door is opened and then retract a few seconds after the door is closed. There is a Vehicle controls section on the media screen that allows manual deploying of the running boards and they stay deployed until pushed again to retract them, or until the motor is restarted if the truck was shut off. Not clear what you are wanting it to do?

But, can’t help on the reset time question.

 

[orange]

The running boards do not deploy when the door is physically open. A couple of days have gone by now and they are still not deploying so there's something else going on there, it's just strange that they's say that would happen, but also state it would start working again a while later.

I'll have to wait until the truck arrives here and take it in. I'm sure they'll figure it out.

Thanks.

 

[Dean2]

Check the settings on the radio under controls. My 2500 has OEM power boards, love them. There is a setting that turns off the running boards completely so they don't deploy at all when the doors are opened, you have to manually deploy them. My bet is that setting is active, just toggle the setting back to automatic.

Ram power running boards at DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo. Privacy, Simplified.

duckduckgo.com

 

[orange]

Cool, I'll have her check that.

Thanks.

 

[Dean2]

Let us know if that solves the problem because I have never heard of the boards not working because of a fob being programed. Sure didn't happen when I had fob 3 and 4 programed, at seperate times, on mine.

 

[orange]

Got the truck this Saturday. The running boards were still not working.

I noticed something connected to the odb port. PowerStep written on it. It's an after market unit. I double checked with the window sticker. Sure enough, no running board on it*

I started to poke around and within a minute of unplugging the thing and plugging it back in it deployed and hit me as I was too close to it. Didn't get hurt, but it was a surprise. Once it deployed, it has AMP Research clearly visible on the step.

This explains why there is not button anywhere in all the menus in the 12" screen related to the steps.

It was just done a bit half as*ed. The cable to the odb port plug of this thing faces the driver so it sticks out a bit. I don't like that and I want to see if I can reroute it or plug it in somewhere else.

Does anyone know where the secondary odb port is located in these trucks? If it has one, I'll just move it to that one. If not I'll have to find a pig tail so that I can move the board's plug further back into the firewall.


The good news, everything else seems to be in working condition. The ******** just "forgot" to include the OEM rubber mats after detailing it and my relative that took delivery of the truck for me did not notice it until she was taking pictures of the truck both in and out before it was loaded into the transport trailer to get it to me.

Hopefully the dealer will either agree to ship them to me (and probably on my dime) or give me a check/credit that I can use at my local dealer to get a set.

 

[orange]

The more I look into this the more worried I get.

How does one know if this dam thing have a security bypass module/wire/plug/whatever installed in the truck in order to make this work? I know some mods require such a thing and bringing it in for service at a dealer can cause all sorts of issues including voided warranties.

If the truck came with such a thing I need to find it before any thing happens with the truck and it requires service.

 

[orange]

Looking, poking and probing, I can across a few posts in this site about alfaodb, among others, and the need for 2018+ 1500 requiring a bypass.

While search through that stuff, it looks like such a bypass goes into a gree plastic connector behind the dash higher up and above the obd port.

I took this pic of the wires under my dash, and this pair of wires plugged into that green port is part of the extra obd connector port I found in there too. I'm assuming it's spliter and it contains the bypass stuff.

Can anyone confirm this is a good indication that this after market running board does in fact tap into such bypass? It's the white and blue pair that is connected to the harnesses that are plugged into the obd port.




While I like the running board, if it means a dealer may try to tell me my truck is no longer covered by the warranty because of this, I rather take it all off before I have to take it in for any service.

I rather pay for the OEM, or just a pair of good old fixed step bars, and call it the day as I don't really need fancy retracting steps. My warranty is more important to me.

I appreciate the help very much.


Edit: did more googling and it seems that blue/white pair is connected to a star connector and it's the one for the C can bus. Not sure if it relates to anything with security implications or not.

 

[orange]

More pics from under there.

These are the cables that get disconnected and then connected to the bypasses?



I am not sure what this is for



At first I thought it was a odb pigtail, splitter, or passthrough, but it's connected to this:



And that connector up there I don't know what it is.

It might be the controller for the running board, but it got kind of dark and my flashlight's battery died on me. So I'll take another look tomorrow to confirm figure that out.

 

[orange]

Found what that extra odb harness was for. This was tucked way up there, could barely see it.

Looks like a tracker. The kicker is that if this is for my lender to track the vehicle, the people at the dealer left the info booklet and install instructions that comes with it in the car.

Unless they want the buyer to activate it and think they're the only ones tracking the vehicle and the bank gets it too.

Only conspiracy theories folks, but I do not recall anything in all the paper works I signed for this track about this track guidepoint thing. So for now, ti's going to stay out of the truck until I can figure out what it is.



To clarify, it was I who put the red block over the scan bars, EMEI and other numbers on the unit, so that one thinks it was the dealer who put them there over the unit in case it's not readily apparent it was done after I took the picture

 

[Scottly]

Look overhead...If you see black helicopters, stop posting and proceed to the pre-determined meeting point.

 

[orange]

Yup. Website contains nothing about end user, only oems, fleet management and dealer partnerships.

I did some more digging and found an ad on their sales site.

https://www.guidepointsystems.com/dealers-fleet-management/

" Easy to Install – No Cut or Spliced Wires "

I also see the bullet point that says, " Promotes Retention by Driving Traffic Through Service Retention and Dealer Website"

I'm guessing that this is evidence they may be sending check engine light notifications to the dealer. I've gotta take this thing out. More people should know about this. I wish there wasn't so much fine print these days, because I almost certainly agreed to this somewhere.

 

[Scottly]

Jokes aside, what you are probably looking at is an ancillary product that was installed by the selling dealer as part of an ancillary product package for theft protection. The selling dealer maybe had intentions of charging for it, you may have paid for it( I don't know). Remove it and smash it.

 

[orange]

I'm trying to figure that out right now. I removed it and took the truck for a drive. All the app geofencing alerts and remote features like turning the truck on/off. locking/unlocking still work without it.

I already reread all the documents I have that were signed and given to me by the dealer and there is nothing in any of it that points to a device like that.

Best case scenario: we install this theft tracking device in all our new vehicles and because this was one left in the lot for so long we ended up forgetting about it.

 

[Dean2]

I'm trying to figure that out right now. I removed it and took the truck for a drive. All the app geofencing alerts and remote features like turning the truck on/off. locking/unlocking still work without it.

I already reread all the documents I have that were signed and given to me by the dealer and there is nothing in any of it that points to a device like that.

Best case scenario: we install this theft tracking device in all our new vehicles and because this was one left in the lot for so long we ended up forgetting about it.

Why not just call the dealership and ask them what the deal is? You were just as paranoid about the Power Board hook up. Dreaming up visions of the deep dark state on a forum isn't going to get you any real answers.

 

[orange]

Why not just call the dealership and ask them what the deal is? You were just as paranoid about the Power Board hook up. Dreaming up visions of the deep dark state on a forum isn't going to get you any real answers.

I did call. Waiting for a call back.

The reason I posted here was that maybe someone has seen these things installed in other cars and they knew what is used for.

For example, I found this, which basically says Stellantins works with GuidePoint to collect telemetry to "improve customer experience" (as opposed to "we gather that info and make money on it, but we do tell users it's to make life better for them, and they pay us a monthly fee for selling us their info"). Dated January 10, 2024.





Full story here: https://www.stellantisfleet.com/new...r-advances-in-mobilisights-mobility-data.html

But after I pulled it out of the truck, I took it for a drive and all the connectivity stuff still works just find, including geofencing alerts, start/stop via the RAM Connect Phone app and all.

So it's not the telemetry stuff the car has already built in (that cell modem is in the head unit from what I've been able to find). And from the mopar parts site the telemetry module looks different too.

We'll say what the dealer has to say about it, if they return my call at all.

 

[DanAR]

Geez, maybe I need to get up under my dash board and see what’s up there. I may need to make a little tin hat to fit over the truck antenna. Or wear myself.

 

[Jimmy07]

But after I pulled it out of the truck, I took it for a drive and all the connectivity stuff still works just find, including geofencing alerts, start/stop via the RAM Connect Phone app and all.

So it's not the telemetry stuff the car has already built in (that cell modem is in the head unit from what I've been able to find). And from the mopar parts site the telemetry module looks different too.

Two different things. What you found and removed is an aftermarket tracker that the dealership (or someone else) installed.

The radio connectivity (Ram Connect, etc) is different, and handled by the telematics box behind the upper glove box. To remove all connectivity with stellantis, you would remove that telematics box, and use alfaobd to configure the BCM so it knows it’s not there anymore.

 

[orange]

Two different things. What you found and removed is an aftermarket tracker that the dealership (or someone else) installed.

The radio connectivity (Ram Connect, etc) is different, and handled by the telematics box behind the upper glove box. To remove all connectivity with stellantis, you would remove that telematics box, and use alfaobd to configure the BCM so it knows it’s not there anymore.

I thought that was the case too, but a while back when 3G was turned off all over the place, connectivity in every car that used 3G stopped working.

I tested this because I wanted to makes sure the car did not have an older 3G setup and this was added as a cheaper work around then redesigning the entire system to use newer tech. The chances of this were very, very slim, but I wanted to rule that out before contacting the dealer and getting a response that that's what it was.

Still waiting for them to get back to me on this, though the internet sales directory did reply to my email saying he'd get the answers for me.

I'll be turning off the car's built-in telematics as soon as the OBD dongle arrives from amazon.

But good thing you brought that up. The way I read what you wrote about the telematics thing makes me thing it's not enough to just turn it off with alfaobd, but removing/disconnecting the module is also necessary. Is that actually the case? Maybe if it's left connected the system will think it's something wrong with it? I can remove it, not a problem, just trying to clarify the entire procedure.

Thanks.