Consumer group finds ‘Connected Services’ feature can send personal and vehicle data to third parties, with drivers told removing components risks voiding warranty
Toyota has insisted it takes customer privacy “extremely seriously”, but has acknowledged the data communication module (DCM) – known as the “Connected Services” feature – can only be disabled but not removed from its cars, or else drivers could void their warranty and render Bluetooth and speakers non-functional.
Following an investigation, Choice has found Toyota’s “Connected Services” feature “collects information such as vehicle location, driving data, fuel levels, and even phone numbers and email addresses”.
A Choice investigation found one customer, Matthew, claimed he only learned about the Connected Services feature a few months after buying his $68,000 Toyota HiLux when he began receiving emails asking him to register for it.
Feeling uncomfortable about the feature, the Queensland father asked the dealership to remove – not just deactivate – the technology from his car, but claimed he was told this would void the warranty and risk his insurance.
He called on the federal government to bolster safeguards and introduce prohibitions on the collection and use of personal data as a matter of urgency.
The spokesperson said that while disconnecting the sim card would not void the warranty, a customer who elected to physically remove the DCM with a third party – because Toyota won’t – “does so at their own risk”.
The original article contains 507 words, the summary contains 211 words. Saved 58%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
You are not logged in. However you can subscribe from another Fediverse account, for example Lemmy or Mastodon. To do this, paste the following into the search field of your instance: !privacyguides@lemmy.one
In the digital age, protecting your personal information might seem like an impossible task. We’re here to help.
This is a community for sharing news about privacy, posting information about cool privacy tools and services, and getting advice about your privacy journey.
You can subscribe to this community from any Kbin or Lemmy instance:
Check out our website at privacyguides.org before asking your questions here. We’ve tried answering the common questions and recommendations there!
Want to get involved? The website is open-source on GitHub, and your help would be appreciated!
This community is the “official” Privacy Guides community on Lemmy, which can be verified here. Other “Privacy Guides” communities on other Lemmy servers are not moderated by this team or associated with the website.
Moderation Rules:
We prefer posting about open-source software whenever possible.
No soliciting engagement: Don’t ask for upvotes, follows, etc.
Surveys, Fundraising, and Petitions must be pre-approved by the mod team.
Be civil, no violence, hate speech. Assume people here are posting in good faith.
Don’t repost topics which have already been covered here.
News posts must be related to privacy and security, and your post title must match the article headline exactly. Do not editorialize titles, you can post your opinions in the post body or a comment.
Memes/images/video posts that could be summarized as text explanations should not be posted. Infographics and conference talks from reputable sources are acceptable.
No help vampires: This is not a tech support subreddit, don’t abuse our community’s willingness to help. Questions related to privacy, security or privacy/security related software and their configurations are acceptable.
No misinformation: Extraordinary claims must be matched with evidence.
Do not post about VPNs or cryptocurrencies which are not listed on privacyguides.org. See Rule 2 for info on adding new recommendations to the website.
General guides or software lists are not permitted. Original sources and research about specific topics are allowed as long as they are high quality and factual. We are not providing a platform for poorly-vetted, out-of-date or conflicting recommendations.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Toyota has insisted it takes customer privacy “extremely seriously”, but has acknowledged the data communication module (DCM) – known as the “Connected Services” feature – can only be disabled but not removed from its cars, or else drivers could void their warranty and render Bluetooth and speakers non-functional.
Following an investigation, Choice has found Toyota’s “Connected Services” feature “collects information such as vehicle location, driving data, fuel levels, and even phone numbers and email addresses”.
A Choice investigation found one customer, Matthew, claimed he only learned about the Connected Services feature a few months after buying his $68,000 Toyota HiLux when he began receiving emails asking him to register for it.
Feeling uncomfortable about the feature, the Queensland father asked the dealership to remove – not just deactivate – the technology from his car, but claimed he was told this would void the warranty and risk his insurance.
He called on the federal government to bolster safeguards and introduce prohibitions on the collection and use of personal data as a matter of urgency.
The spokesperson said that while disconnecting the sim card would not void the warranty, a customer who elected to physically remove the DCM with a third party – because Toyota won’t – “does so at their own risk”.
The original article contains 507 words, the summary contains 211 words. Saved 58%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!