[ezfe]

Just a note about Toyota specifically - There are many blog posts and articles out there alleging that Toyota shares your data with insurance companies.

As I own two Toyota's I have read through these carefully and consistently the theme is that the owner was opted into this program without knowing it (likely by the sales person clicking through setup steps to enable every feature). If you are not opted in, I have seen no evidence they share driving data.

When I set up my Toyotas, the app clearly walks through the programs they have and you must click either "yes/opt in" or "no/opt out" for each program. It is not opted in by default.

[dylan604]

I've bought multiple Toyotas from the same dealer, and each time the sales person has been overly aggressive about setting up the app and connecting to the car. The first time I let them do it to a point as I had not seen what it did, but had to prevent them from syncing contacts. After that, I had to be very stern about not needing help to set up an app I was never going to use. I don't know if they are used to neophytes being unable to handle this and think they are doing a service or if it's a push to get people to connect/sync as much as possible.

[giancarlostoro]

> I don't know if they are used to neophytes being unable to handle this and think they are doing a service or if it's a push to get people to connect/sync as much as possible.

Likely doing it to remove any frustrations from the brand new buyer being unable to figure out how to set it all up. The last thing you need is someone changing their mind about the car they just bought, because well if setting up the app is a PITA, what else is terrible about the car?

[dylan604]

The main problem I had with it is the fact it requires an app in the first place. Once they have an app on your phone, they have access to so much data. The app by nature of the functions it performs will need GPS, Bluetooth, and Contacts at a minimum. Once they have that access, there's nothing stopping them from using it for whatever they want. That's just absolutely not something I'm willing to give a car app. Do we really think their map/routing app will be better than something else I could use instead? I don't even like using map apps because of their power to snoop and report.

[ezfe]

There's no app requirement to use the car, only the app features.

[dylan604]

wow, did you read too much into that one my friend. of course it's not needed for using the car. it's needed to use the in dash mapping feature.

[ezfe]

Okay so I read your comment to say you didn’t want their mapping service so assumed it was more broad. My bad.

That being said, on re-reading the Toyota app does not require location/Bluetooth/Contacts to set up.

[jabroni_salad]

according to some guys on r/askcarsales the manufacturers have required KPIs for onboarding app users so they just have to do it.

[tmerc]

I asked the Subaru dealer to not set up an account for me. They did anyway with an email that wasn't mine. So they gave someone else control of my car over the Internet after I asked them not to even bother. I only found out because Subaru sent me mail that had the email address on it.

[dylan604]

That's some shady ass shit right there. Did you reset it after finding out? I would have driven up there and become a Karen demanding to speak to a manager at the dealership. I wonder if any kind of identity theft laws or anything along the those lines could be used.

[addaon]

I assume any dealer who's comfortable signing a contract (terms of service) on your behalf is comfortable with you signing a contract on their behalf. Time to write yourself a new car.

[numpad0]

A lot of engineers view the touchscreen head unit to be the central nerve system of the car, when in reality it's just a peripheral. It's an accessory. It's like those gimmick CPU coolers with a watch sized display. They use different models of that screen for different trims of same cars. This article in fact discuss removal of the DCM unit, not removal of the touchscreen; the touchscreen is still 100% functional. Because the entire screen is just an accessory.

What that means is, those data collections don't necessarily go through that display thing, therefore collections consent/disable screen just might not be there. Maybe it's in the paper contracts or maybe they think cars aren't people, but my point is, a car is not built around the display, and there is no guarantee that the tracking code is on that part of the car.

[danbrooks]

This aligns with my understanding.

Before 2018-2019, the opt-in process for data sharing was hidden on a website somewhere. Around that time, the form became part of the vehicle purchasing process.

[404mm]

When I bought my 2024 Lexus, there was a sticker on the headlamp saying to push the support call button to talk to a rep if I don’t want any vehicle data collected . So I did and the rep told me they can disable it but it will also disable the SOS/911 calls and crash report if I do that. Choosing my own battles, I begrudgingly told them to leave it enabled.

[tmerc]

On the 23 4Runner, telemetry is enabled by default. You get warning stickers but other than that, it's just on. No app, no other indicator. Had the dealer removed that one sticker, there would be no obvious indicator

[ndesaulniers]

There was a recent class action suit against GM for this.