Important: Even after the modem is removed, if you connect your phone to the car via Bluetooth then the car will use your phone as an internet connection and send all the same telemetry data back to Toyota.
that is so fucking insidious
Data will find a way.
Does iOS still not ask fully what the user wants to use the Bluetooth connection for? As bad as Android is I can’t imagine it doing something like that without asking.
But one can also disable bluetooth tethering?
Can you use the phone to only allow Bluetooth media but nothing else?
At least on my pixel, I’ve got a setting to enable or disable sharing phones internet to bluetooth connections.
I did something similar to a 5th gen camaro. It was much easier. Take out the cell modem unit, open the case, pull out a physical hardware pin bridge that connected it to the OnStar unit. Done.
The only thing I lost was an in-dash compass heading.
The modem was 2g so its dead now anyway, I suppose I could put the bridge back and get the compass. I won’t though, that takes effort and road signs have directions on them. There is always the sun too.
Thank you for posting this. These devices are getting out of control. They are marketed as a convenience to the driver, when in actuality they are capturing and selling your location and driving habit information to data brokers and insurance companies. Sometimes dealerships will even add an aftermarket tracking device to their vehicles without telling you. I removed one that I found in a Crosstrek I bought last year. The device I removed was made by iKON Technologies, and is ‘intended’ to be used for lot management at the dealership. The dealership tried to sell me an overpriced security plan associated with the GPS tracker. I declined. They left it on anyway. What they don’t tell you is that iKON Technologies installs them at no cost to the dealership, and that the tracker is used for repossessions and capturing data to be used for targeted marketing or sell to data brokers. Some devices have the ability to inhibit your starter and ignition system like the one in this manual.
Slap that tracker on a car belonging to an employee of the dealership.
How is that in any way legal where you are?
Because until you pay off the car, the bank owns it. If you paid cash then I’d have insisted the dealer remove it from the vehicle at their cost otherwise I’ll just buy the car from another dealer that doesn’t do that crap.
I demand they remove a bunch of stuff. Dealer plate frames, or even worse the stupid dealer stickers on the vehicle. I’m buying a car, not a billboard for your dealership.
Fucking brilliant. We need much more of this--more public awareness of this type of hack.
Just gonna keep fixing my 19yr old Toyota until I can’t.
I’ve thought about making a business that makes drop in electric kits for popular vehicles. So you could take an older worn out vehicle and refresh it with full electric. It would probably cost $20k or so, but that’s much cheaper than a new car.
It’s called retrofit. I would love to see the price go down but it’s definitely a challenging task.
Yeah, its already a growing industry I have my eye on. I would love to just electrify my gas guzzler.
There are not enough people around that would sink that much money into an old vehicle.
It depends, if you watch Dave’s Auto Center people will sink that much into just an engine for an old truck. If fuel prices go up and demand for used evs goes up then I could see it as a solid alternative. I would have to target the most common vehicles that are currently on the road and make universal motors and smaller battery segments so that they could be packaged for different vehicles using the same parts.
If this is a more complicated version for you and you want a quick and dirty one, just disconnect the fuse marked DCM in the fuse box under the steering wheel. This will kill it’s power, however there is a built in battery in the DCM module that will take a few days to die. This does cause the microphone to not work as well, but its an option. I did it when I bought my '21 RAV4 Hybrid over 2 years ago and it hasn’t caused more issues than the microphone not working.
Why does a car need a microphone?
For hands free phone calls
but my phone has a microphone
For voice calls with your phone, some cars have voice activated features, etc.
It’s all crap I don’t need.
My sentiments there. I was wracking my brain trying to find a use case where I would actually need my car to hear me, and I now miss my '86 SAAB 900 SPG
+1…I had 1981 Saab 900 while working at a Volvo dealer and my last one was a 9-3. I miss Saab.
Our 2016 car has voice controls - had it for 3 years before I realized.
Works like shit too.
Aside from phone calls, I do find it handy to use with CarPlay when I need to get directions while driving or respond to an SMS.
So my mom can call me because she’s lost, but doesn’t want to stop to check her Google maps because she’s in a “dangerous part of town” (downtown Seattle).
(My mum’s not a bigot btw, she just lived in a village of 1000 people until she was 29 and anywhere with more than 20 people at once makes her anxious. Costco trips also have her on alert like she’s part of Seal Team Six)
Bluetooth phone calls?
I suppose, though a BT headset seems less intrusive
It is against traffic laws to be wearing anything on your ears in many places. I got pulled over in Colorado in around 2010 for having one ear of a wired headset on. Didn’t get a ticket, but still sucked.
It’s something about being able to hear sirens and stuff around you. It’s dumb because people will blast music as loud as they want but having one ear covered gets you in trouble.
Deaf people can drive though
Yeah I’m sure those laws only exist in states where no one has taken the extra time and money to challenge them, because they’re obviously inconsistent and unjust.
Oh, I know. And I wonder how many people with large hearing aids get pulled over too.
Deaf people spend their entire live deaf and they adapt. They don’t suddenly become deaf when they start driving.
Deaf people spend their entire live(sic) deaf
Except for the ones that don’t. Do you really not know about hearing loss?
Some drivers suddenly become deaf but don’t suddenly stop driving though too.
Agreed. That sounds like needless legislation. Especially considering that there have been studies that show that “loud pipes DON’T save lives.” The interior of modern cars are so soundproofed that most people won’t hear those really loud motorcycles until they are right next to them. Same for many sirens I would wager.
More to do with the Doppler effect than anything dealing with sound deadening. You also don’t point the pipes the direction your going .
point the pipes the direction your going
Don’t give those assholes any ideas.
Or just kill the antennas with these.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00BXUYDMM and https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0DCBBYQR6
To kill the antenna with these you need to pull trim off the car to access the antenna plugs. Pulling the fuse takes 30 seconds and doesn’t require tools unless you have fat fingers like me and can’t grip the fuse to pull it.
Also, this could kill your FM/AM radio access depending on how things are wired and that may not be for everyone.
Good to know these exist though
True, but onany cars pulling the fused trips other errors. For instance on many Jeep/Chryslers you get check engine lights.
How does it work? Where do you put these things?
There are a number of writups online, but basically you disconnect the antennas at the head unit, and replace with these. Without them there is no resistance so the system knows things are wrong (and damage can be caused), while these fool the system into thinking there is no signal.
Congratulations - your car no longer has the capability to transmit telemetry data. Of course it may still be captured to local storage and can be physically collected later, but for me that was fine.
Yeah, and it’s unknown how much telemetry the car keeps. Hopefully, the removal of GPS means the car no longer logs every location the car travels, but without that there are some reports that modern vehicles keep years of GPS data locally, so it’s possible for an intruder like law enforcement to see everywhere you’ve ever taken your vehicle.
My wife is worried (and so am I) about getting anything newer than like a 2016 for this reason. I’m glad we’re able to rip that shit out of newer cars
Very cool. Passing this on to friends and family with the RAV4.
This makes me feel better of buying a new Toyota in the near future.
Dumb question if the modem is removed, why need to remove the GPS?
Dumb question if the modem is removed, why need to remove the GPS?
The article says that while not needed, it helped with some bugs when using a phone as the navigation device.
If you go to the dealership they’ll get all your data that’s stored locally. I imagine an independent shop using Toyota’s software will probably do the same thing. Also buying a new car lets these companies know that you’re okay with having your right to repair be taken away since this is the industry practice. New cars also have massively higher yearly registration fees and parts are more expensive to replace and lots of computers in the cars do have issues.
Just get an older car. Early 2000s. The 1.9ALH diesel in VW Jettas can be tuned to get insane fuel economy, up to ~60mpg. What do you really need in a new car that can’t be installed in an old car? Fuel economy, sound deadening, double din Bluetooth carplay head unit, etc
Back in 2009 I got a brand new Honda Fit (Jazz in other markets) 3 weeks later I got into an accident and the car was written off as totalled because the body design had changed that year and no parts were available yet.
Sometimes the parts are expensive because there are fewer parts on the market when the car is new.
Oh for sure.
It’s the spouce that needs convincing. I won’t sell my early 2000s for this exact reason. Insane MPG no electronic bullshit.
We need something bigger with 3 rows for the kids as our two row is just way to small. Try and convince them to find something old, reliable and data gathering free is a challenge.
cause the GPS doesn’t work right after the change, and sometimes the phone will use the car GPS location, which is wrong.
Author answers this. Because with no modem but with GPS, his carplay navigation got messed up.
GPS does not need the internet to operate (atleast it can send requests for positioning data). Although location accuracy can be improved if you combine things like triangulation w/ cellular towers and wifi connections.
FYI, toyota puts the part numbers on the connectors if you wanted to DIY this. Corsa Technic and Ballenger Motorsports will probably have the connectors. If not, you can get the shells and pins from Toyota once you know the part numbers.
I think my next car purchase will be contingent on their disabling this for me before purchase. Just sayin
Anyone know if this possible with hyundai kona 2024?
The site where he got the bypass kit does not list Hyundai. That doesn’t mean it’s not possible, but does mean someone else will need to do the RnD.
Check your service manual.
I did. Nothing. Found several threads online, but nothing conclusive for newer than 2024.
Great write up. Something I’ve thought of doing many times with my Honda.
The plugs will only fit on the correct wires, there’s no way to get it wrong
Haha, bet I could find a way to mess that up.
what if you’re in a place you dk tho? /srsq
Car GPS: always able to track you.
Phone GPS App: choose your vendor (e.g. openstreetmaps vs Google), set the app to only have location access when in use.
Significantly better control.
Can you please write English? No idea what you are talking about.
Translation: “what if you are in a place you don’t know though? (serious question)”
exactamente
I believe they are confirming they haven’t seen a paper map nor know how to use one. lol
Nor have a phone with gps or any other outside devices
wouldn’t a phone with a gps have the same privacy concerns, just pocket sized
GPS doesn’t phone home by itself. The OP article also explaines that they only removed the GPS because of buggy behaviour in combination with using a phone GPS.
Easier to turn a phone off whole your car moves or wrap it in foil it takes wa6 less foil
icantreadthis
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yes lets carry around a massive paper map with us in the middle of traffic
Back in my day, we did a little thing called “pulling over to the side of the road or into a parking lot before pulling out the map”. You don’t read the map in the middle of traffic, silly!
Fun fact: Automobiles and roads have existed for much longer than GPS navigation. Maps were very common and not “massive”.
If you were taking a road trip, you might bring a larger map (known as an “atlas”), but those were more like books (vs. local maps, which were just a folded piece of paper).
Neither were massive. Local/regional maps fit easily in pretty much any compartment or pocket in the car. Atlases wouldn’t fit in quite as many places, but they were still manageable.
I know what an Atlas is (british schools are behind enough that they still use them) but the same principle applies that it might not be the best idea to unfold and read a whole in the middle of rush hour traffic
Rush hour traffic is usually going slow enough that you probably could. But in fast traffic, yeah, that’s why you don’t do that, you fold it down to the part you need.
It was a joke.
Anyway, downloading offline maps using any number of apps is an option as is installing a dedicated GPS unit in the car.
Is that really any worse than drivers now
No, but it’s worse than it could be. Drivers browsing facebook while they drive isn’t relevant to the GPS vs map comparison.
Oh you can use Facebook on a map
Fuck your anglinguistic chauvimperialismings!
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