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”.
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