"Vehicle Data Transmission is On!" Sticker

New here, so apologies if I'm posting in the wrong place. I figure this is a "new car" problem so I opted for the 3rd Gen Forum. I found some older threads on privacy but nothing specifically on this sticker and the disabling process.

Got my 2021 a couple days ago and noticed this sticker on the over-head controls when I got home. I know I can't be the only one creeped out by stuff like this, so I thought I'd come here to see if anyone knows how to make sure it's disabled and that I fully opt-out.

The salesman at the dealership was very insistent that I download the app and register an account for all the "features" it will give me. He kept checking back in, interrupting while I was in finance just to make sure I was getting through the process as the app downloaded. (I wonder if they get incentives based on how many customers they successfully enroll). At the time I was mostly worried about what those "features" would cost me, so most of my questions were about how to avoid automatic subscription to the "services" after the trial ends. It wasn't until I saw the sticker that I became concerned about privacy. Should have known. Through the app I've now declined all the data and privacy options I can find under Account>Data Privacy Portal. But I wonder if there's more I have to do to fully opt out of all this data collection.

Has anyone else gone through this process with any confidence that all the collections are turned off? It sounds like from previous threads that not everyone even got this warning sticker when they bought their Toyota. It says to press the SOS button to opt out, but all I get is a beep. Does that mean it opted out?

 

I believe you have to speak to a representative that will disable it .once you hit the button it should contact them . It’s like Onstar .

 

Freaky Friday - this week featuring "tin hat clan"

 

I'd be interested in seeing if this goes somewhere.

 

What’s so tin foil hat about this post? The sticker actually says your information is being sent. That’s fact, not some tin foil hat claim.

 

Because if you don't voluntarily submit to all forms of corporate tracking without question then you're the crazy one. Or at least that seems to be the prevailing opinion here on TacoWorld.

 

This foil part is being paranoid about what Toyota might use the information for. As long as you have a cell phone, or use the internet, the kind of data Toyota might be collecting is already being collected.

I truly don't care a tiny bit about what they do with the data, or who they sell it to. I also don't care about what the recycling company does with my trash after they collect it, this is not all that different.

 

I don't think it's a question of thinking you're the crazy one, I just think some people don't see what the big deal is.....others think differently. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and one isn't more right or wrong than the other. It's just personal preference.

 

You might care if they sell that data to your insurance company and your insurance rates go up as a result of they can now see how bad your driving is (this is hypothetical, I'm not saying you're a bad driver).

 

My 2021 had the sticker also. If you're bothered by the vehicle transmitting data, hit the SOS button and have them turn it all off. You just won't have the benefits of all the connected services, so as long as that's ok with you and you're more comfortable that way, tell them you want it all off.

 

You have to specifically opt in for that part of it. They don't do anything for insurance data unless you agree to it.

 

Yeah, now...

If you look back over time, every seemingly shocking change to erode privacy with technology eventually becomes the new norm. Companies at that point move the goal posts once more, there is a brief outrage, which seems to be getting smaller, and then we have a new, slightly less private but more "convenient" experience, which is how we got where we are with phones today. We've seen how this plays out and it is ultimately a loss for the customer. No matter the bullshit altruistic motive the company gives, the bottom line is there is money to be made off that data and anybody who works there that is hesitant to capitalize on it will eventually be replaced with someone who will.

If Toyota were really concerned about the customer, you would have to opt-in.

 

Welcome to capitalism. Publicly traded companies exist for one purpose only, and only have a legal obligation to one group: their shareholders. They exist for the sole purpose of making money, and it's their job to maximize earnings for shareholders. Directors and officers of a company can be sued for not doing so (thus the existence of Directors and Officers Liability Insurance). Good customer service exists because it makes for repeat customers, thus increasing sales, not out of some altruistic sense of doing the right thing or making people's lives better. There's a reason company mission statements come out of their marketing departments. The fact that they are in this to make money should come as no great surprise to anyone. The only power consumers have is not to buy their products or use their services. If enough people do that they will eventually get the message when it hits their bottom line, but as individual consumers we have zero power other than if you don't like the product, don't buy it.

 

Also new guy with recently purchased 2021. I disappointed the dealer and declined the service. However, read the fine print, the data is still collected and sent via its own cell SIM card. The only way to stop the truck from transmitting info to Toyota is to pull the DCM fuse. No maintenance, location, or emergency data can be sent while the DCM is unpowered. Apparently this might also disable the internal microphone too (not an issue for me). Note that the truck still collects info (like all modern cars) that can be subpoenaed in an accident.

 

Ok that is of course fine for you. Other people think it is intrusion of privacy, and very dangerous. If you wanna be tracked have at it, if he doesn't what skin off your nose?

 

Oh, and if you have concerns about being tracked in your truck, don't forget license plate readers, toll tags (EZPass, etc), traffic monitoring cameras, and RFID chips in your tires.

 

Some of my family had a Buick with Onstar in the 2000s. They didn't use it so they stopped paying for it. Years later they hit the button on accident and the Onstar person started talking to them over the speakers.

I wonder if the Toyota system just sits there latently.

 

When I called to have mine disabled they told me it was a service provided for free for the first two years. Sometimes free is not a good price

 

In most of the country you are not running into plate readers, toll passes or traffic cameras outside of derped urban areas.