Safety Connect is kind of creepy

[msp]

Got an email today from Toyota Care saying it was time for my mall ramp adventure vehicle to be serviced. At exactly 4800 miles. I remembered that I was getting a "free" year of Safety Connect. So, I thought I'd take a look at the agreement to see how they were monitoring me.

The answer, is quite a bit. In the YOUR PRIVACY ... section:

<i>The information we may get from your Car includes things such as data about its operation (such as diagnostic trouble codes, oil life remaining and odometer reading);</i>

and

<i>You agree that we can, subject to applicable law, use any of this information we collect to: (a) provide Services to you or your Car (including, but not limited to, sharing that information with roadside assistance providers, emergency service providers, or others, as needed); (b) communicate with you about your account; (c) check or maintain your System; (d) provide information to the maker of your Car about the Car’s performance, about aggregate product usage, and to enable the maker of your Car to comply with law; (e) provide information about you to dealers and dealer associations for their own use; (f) provide information about you to our business partners to fulfill any request you may make and improve our service to you; (g) help you to maintain the Car; (h) evaluate and improve our Service;...</i>

I'm not a black helicopter guy. I carry a cell phone with me everywhere. I just wasn't paying attention to the Safety Connect agreement when they rushed me through the sign up at closing. It seems like this is a much better deal for Toyota than it is for their customers.

 

[KidVermicious]

The concept of consumer privacy is almost gone. Every modern electronic system you use wants to phone home. You're damned right it's creepy, and I avoid that shit as much as possible.

 

[DannyLlama]

The concept of consumer privacy is almost gone.

This..

Unless you live in the woods without any electronic communication methods.

 

[05Rrunner]

Got an email today from Toyota Care saying it was time for my mall ramp adventure vehicle to be serviced. At exactly 4800 miles. I remembered that I was getting a "free" year of Safety Connect. So, I thought I'd take a look at the agreement to see how they were monitoring me.

The answer, is quite a bit. In the YOUR PRIVACY ... section:

<i>The information we may get from your Car includes things such as data about its operation (such as diagnostic trouble codes, oil life remaining and odometer reading);</i>

and

<i>You agree that we can, subject to applicable law, use any of this information we collect to: (a) provide Services to you or your Car (including, but not limited to, sharing that information with roadside assistance providers, emergency service providers, or others, as needed); (b) communicate with you about your account; (c) check or maintain your System; (d) provide information to the maker of your Car about the Car’s performance, about aggregate product usage, and to enable the maker of your Car to comply with law; (e) provide information about you to dealers and dealer associations for their own use; (f) provide information about you to our business partners to fulfill any request you may make and improve our service to you; (g) help you to maintain the Car; (h) evaluate and improve our Service;...</i>

I'm not a black helicopter guy. I carry a cell phone with me everywhere. I just wasn't paying attention to the Safety Connect agreement when they rushed me through the sign up at closing. It seems like this is a much better deal for Toyota than it is for their customers.

Thanks for posting I had no idea. when I purchased my 2015 don't remember this. is it a service you pay for?

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Thanks for posting I had no idea. when I purchased my 2015 don't remember this. is it a service you pay for?

++1.

This is the first I have heard of this too. Is it an LE only feature? I hate that On-Star type crap. I am pretty certain my 2015 Trail does not have this (and I am glad).

 

[msp]

++1.

This is the first I have heard of this too. Is it an LE only feature? I hate that On-Star type crap. I am pretty certain my 2015 Trail does not have this (and I am glad).

For 2015, it was standard on the LE. Not available on other models. Don't know about 2016.

 

[DannyLlama]

Only in the LE

 

[1engineer]

Seriously this is why I go out in the woods to ride, hike and go off road. Just to get away from all the invasion that is part of the normal society now.

 

[Quentin]

Seriously this is why I go out in the woods to ride, hike and go off road. Just to get away from all the invasion that is part of the normal society now.

I record my rides on Strava. [emoji51]

 

[Jhalko]

I record my rides on Strava. [emoji51]

I turn my phone off, ride time is my time and no one else's.

Also glad I let that Toyota connect expire years ago...

 

[BlackWorksInc]

It is the FUTURE... doo dee doo dee doo dee doo dee doo dee

But yeah... it's knock-off OnStar basically...

 

[Jhalko]

It is the FUTURE... doo dee doo dee doo dee doo dee doo dee

But yeah... it's knock-off OnStar basically...

Too many sheeple out there that have to be protected from themselves.

Baaaa, "four legs good, two legs bad"

 

[Code2]

Girl friend bought a jeep trail hawk new years eve and well after 4 days she gets a email with exact mileage, diagnostics info, oil trans etc temps exact location of the vehicle with speed ETC. I was like WTF thats just wrong.

Connect was disconnected after that. sorry but I don't need uncle sam or anyone else to she what i do with a vehicle i pay for. I especially don't like the fact t he vehicle can be opened by phone started by phone etc let alone someone on the other end of the mirror having the ability to do it

 

[Quentin]

I turn my phone off, ride time is my time and no one else's.



Also glad I let that Toyota connect expire years ago...

My ******* competitive side outweighs my desire for privacy in the woods. [emoji15]

 

[Titanpat57]

The concept of consumer privacy is almost gone. Every modern electronic system you use wants to phone home. You're damned right it's creepy, and I avoid that shit as much as possible.

-Fred Flintstone

Fixed.....lol

 

[phillyd2]

No doubt we are living in a completely different world. Some (Most) of it absolutely brilliant but some is just scary.

Kid just got a Hamster and I set up a Cam so she can watch it from her iPhone wherever she is.

Those over 35, did you have think any of this was even possible??????

 

[chip4]

I bet Insurance companies would love to get a hold of that, and I’m sure Toyota would be more than willing to sell that collected information from their subscription based telematics for the right price.
I disconnected those big-brother OnStar cables on my Vette a while ago. It’s only a matter of time until I disable it on my 4runner.

 

[JohnJerk]

16 GXs have an app tied to the safety connect system (or at least you have to subscribe to safety connects for it to work) that has electric start, lock, unlock, vehicle locate features. You can check max speed, distance traveled, fuel level etc if you loan your vehicle out. It is a standard feature. 5-10 years out and every last thing you do with you car will be tracked logged and accessed by big brother...

 

[ic0517]

If this stuff creeps you out, read up on "IoT", "Internet of Things", basically every electrical or electronic thing in your house gets an internet connection, most likely WiFi.

Then you could control them all from your smart phone. The down side is that you have opened up a path for hackers. There are concerns that many of the vendors just wont offer updates. As much as Microsoft annoys me, at least they support an OS for ten years.

Last time I looked into it, many of the internet connected thermostats had to use an service on some server, I had issues with that. The thing that keeps the house from freezing needs to be butt-simple in my book.

 

[Jhalko]

My ******* competitive side outweighs my desire for privacy in the woods. [emoji15]

I was "retired" from racing when I had kids. That's not a typo, it wasn't exactly like I had a choice... but the rugrats are fun and I offroad and camp more again now.

When I was disconnected for about three days last fall camping it was amazing. Probably the most tech advanced item I used was my led headlamp and lantern, I was more relaxed than I've been in years!