"Simpler solution for disabling the DCM telematics -- Silencing Antennas"
"We just bought our 2023 Toyota Tacoma TRD Off Road at the end of November and in reading through the manual found out that we could contact Toyota to opt out of data reselling (to insurance companies and advertisers) but couldn't actually disable our Data Communication Module (DCM)/Telematics module from connecting to the internet via user-accessible menus from the truck."
So you can opt out of the data reselling but you can't opt out of the data collection.
This got my attention because it made me wonder, is this kind of data collection happing for all or almost all new cars these days? Do essentially all new cars have "an internet connected computer sitting on my CAN Bus"?
"After tearing apart my passenger dash by removing the scuff plate, cowl side trim board, instrument side panel, passenger knee airbag, glove compartment plate, and finally the glove box/'instrument lower panel assembly' with a trim tool, a philips, and a 10 mm socket I was able to see the DCM module on the far right with the three antenna connectors."
Post goes on to describe modifications to the vehicle. They are specific to this vehicle so unless you have the same vehicle, and feel comfortable doing maintenance on your vehicle, you might not be interested in what follows.
"If my understanding of the Toyota documentation is correct, this should continue to run happily with the DCM/telematics module believing it is out of cell coverage range, and then just overwriting the oldest events in the internal memory in the vain hope it someday hears a cell tower again. The nice part of this approach is should I (or the dealer) ever need to undo this mod, it's completely reversible. Since the three radios were properly terminated into a 50-ohm terminator, there won't be any damage to the transmitting or receiving side of the DCM module, and there also won't be any damage to the wiring on the D37 connector either."
"Altogether, this only took about an hour and a half to do once I figured out the right combination of connectors to use."
Simpler solution for disabling the DCM telematics - Silencing Antennas
