. . . . When I was at the dealer so price compare some of the parts I would need to fix my vehicle, I started talking to one of the Toyota Tech's that (supposedly) is their resident expert on Entune/Nav/Radio. I mentioned my the SD card and he stated "It wouldn't have mattered if they had taken your SD card because it is useless without your radio. Each SD card is locked to a specific radio serial number and each radio serial number is locked to a VIN."
So if he was right, it seems as if there is a unique metadata identifier or serial number that the Nav unit looks for.
Now... whether or not this is true... I have no clue. It is merely something that was told to me by the Toyota tech.
Did anyone figure out if the SD card is tied to a vehicle?
I can tell you from testing on my 2014 TEP, this is absolutely
FALSE and/or misinformation to prevent card stealing. I proved it on my own vehicle.
As posted here preciously,
My 2014 TEP (purchased in March 2014) map data page info shows:
Map Ver 05-33-12 .... 2013-09-2
2013-2014 Ver.1a
(Part# 86271 35011)
Feb 2016 . . .
I plugged in a
Part # 86271 35013
which showed Map Ver 05-33-13 .... 2013-12-3
2013-2014 Ver.1b
March 2017 . . .
Now it seems they have changed to a more universal card/part number that works across multiple vehicle types.
The newest version:
The internal date on the card is 2016-05-1!
The version number is
86271 oe184
Map Ver 05-36-21 2016-05-1
When I powered up after insertion it also updated my Audio software from 0101D1 to 0101D4 from the card.
It makes sense that they are getting away from the vehicle specific part numbers and including audio software updates helps them in the long run.
When I put my old card back in, it worked just fine. Do this powered off, never on.
No, I don't still have the new card,
so don't ask. I was lucky to test with it as it was and that was supervised. (get it?)
NO, the cards are not tied or locked to a specific radio. Of course the part numbers are for use in only the models they are designed for, but not limited or registered to a specific vehicle after use.