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Comment by drnick1

19 hours ago

Older Toyotas also had a DCM fuse, and this was the easiest way to get rid of telemetry. I am not sure if partially disassembling the dash and physically removing the DCM is now necessary.

There's still a fuse for the DCM even in this car but:

- It has an internal battery and will keep running for quite a while after pulling the fuse. This is a safety feature in case you get in a crash that disconnects the 12V battery

- It will break your in-car microphone as discussed. Repairing that requires opening up the dash

- That won't do anything for disconnecting the GPS antenna

  • GPS is receive only. If you've disabled the ability to send telemetry, there should be no reason to be concerned about the GPS antenna.

    • My Ford ~(2018 era SYNC system) has GPS and Bluetooth but no cellular modem.

      It still technically is used for telemetry... but only when you get into a wreck. It'll ping the onboard GPS at that time for coordinates, then place a voice call over your paired cellphone to 911 with TTS coordinates and information about the wreck.

      "Attention. A side crash with rollover has occured in a Ford vehicle. Multiple impacts detected. The maximum speed change was 38 miles per hour. Airbags deployed. Detected ONE seatbelt fastened. Press 1 at any time for location information, or press 0 at any time to speak with vehicle occupants."