Rental cars can be remotely started, tracked, and more after customers return them

Enlarge / The screen displayed by FordPass four days after an Enterprise Rent-A-Car customer returned his Ford Mustang. (credit: Masamba Sinclair)

In October, Ars chronicled the story of a man who was able to remotely start, stop, lock, unlock, and track a Ford explorer he rented and returned five months earlier. Now, something almost identical has happened again to the same Enterprise Rent-A-Car customer. Four days after returning a Ford Mustang, the FordPass app installed on the phone of Masamba Sinclair continues to give him control of the car.

Like the last time, Sinclair could track the car's location at any given time. He could start and stop the engine and lock and unlock its doors. Enterprise only removed Sinclair's access to the car on Wednesday, more than three hours after I informed the rental agency of the error.

"It looks like someone else has rented it and it's currently at a golf resort," Sinclair wrote on Tuesday in an email. "This car is LOUD so starting the engine will definitely start people asking a lot of questions." On Wednesday, before his access was removed, he added: "Looks like the previous rental is over and it's back at the Enterprise parking lot." Below is a video demonstrating the control he had until then.

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