My wife and I were planning on getting her a new car in October. I guess the first thing I will do once it’s home is pull whichever fuse is connected to the network antenna.
VW and BMW have it all baked into the infotainment system. Most others are doing this as well. Pull the fuse and you lose it all. No radio, no backup camera, etc. This triggers a check engine light because the computer detects the loss of several functions. With some manufacturers this may include driver assistance safety features.
Can’t just pull SIMs either. VW place the module for that behind the instrument cluster. Which means you have to disable the entire dashboard to get to it. BMW is inside the infotainment system. These are not designed to be taken apart. So once you get it out of the dash, what good does it do you? If you do manage to remove the SIM, the infotainment will display a warning message. It’s a permanent one that won’t go away. Tells you to visit the dealer for service. Put the SIM in and the warning message goes away. Mercedes has an eSIM. Which means it’s non-removable. It’s digital and part of the modem firmware.
Some people have reported success with dummy load antennas. Others have found independent fuses or removed the SIM on select models. YMMV heavily.
Note that when the cellular services are disabled, you lose the following features:
Remote start (via the app)
Remote safety (automatically call help)
Theft tracking
Misc. Remote features as advertised.
In the case of Toyota, they do offer the ability to opt out entirely. Once opted out, the app becomes useless.
Keep in mind that will likely instantly void your warranty as well as prevent you from receiving OTA updates to your software and the like. Some of which may be safety related.
And that is assuming it doesn’t instantly trip a check engine light or even partially brick the car.
My wife and I were planning on getting her a new car in October. I guess the first thing I will do once it’s home is pull whichever fuse is connected to the network antenna.
These days, it’s becoming less simple than that.
VW and BMW have it all baked into the infotainment system. Most others are doing this as well. Pull the fuse and you lose it all. No radio, no backup camera, etc. This triggers a check engine light because the computer detects the loss of several functions. With some manufacturers this may include driver assistance safety features.
Can’t just pull SIMs either. VW place the module for that behind the instrument cluster. Which means you have to disable the entire dashboard to get to it. BMW is inside the infotainment system. These are not designed to be taken apart. So once you get it out of the dash, what good does it do you? If you do manage to remove the SIM, the infotainment will display a warning message. It’s a permanent one that won’t go away. Tells you to visit the dealer for service. Put the SIM in and the warning message goes away. Mercedes has an eSIM. Which means it’s non-removable. It’s digital and part of the modem firmware.
Some people have reported success with dummy load antennas. Others have found independent fuses or removed the SIM on select models. YMMV heavily.
Note that when the cellular services are disabled, you lose the following features:
In the case of Toyota, they do offer the ability to opt out entirely. Once opted out, the app becomes useless.
Keep in mind that will likely instantly void your warranty as well as prevent you from receiving OTA updates to your software and the like. Some of which may be safety related.
And that is assuming it doesn’t instantly trip a check engine light or even partially brick the car.
These days it’s inside the head unit. She may not have anything on the dash if you do that.