Is My Car Reporting Data

Discussion in 'Prius c Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by almhath, Jul 8, 2013.

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  1. almhath

    almhath Junior Member

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    Hello all,

    I thought I'd ask the Forum about some highly technical information about E.M. reporting capabilities of my 2013 Prius C 3. It has navigation, GPS, satellite radio..., cloth seats, a solar panel on roof. Overall, it's a nice car and I like it, and I've liked Toyota as well. I bought it last year, specifically after asking a LOT of questions about E.M. reporting capability. I specifically do not want any of that, and based on what I was told by my salesmen, I chose this 3, so as to be just under the level of any E.M. data transmission capabilities in the car. I don't want it to be able to report metrics, position data, etc., as I consider them to be an invasion of privacy. I suspect the salesmen (actually there were 2) did not understand the capabilities of the car, and NO, I am not trying to be unkind to Toyota. I just want to reclaim privacy.

    However, I've been learning recently that the car likely IS emitting data periodically on car metrics and position, via periodic burst transmissions (very hard to detect by their intermittent brief nature), which raises questions all over again about the car, such as:

    Does the car have the capability to emit E.M. signals?
    What kind of signals?
    What data? About what?
    How can I attenuate that?

    I've been unable to get information from Toyota about this.

    Years ago and for another purpose (I am not an electronics tech), I did work for the N.S.A., and so my take on this may be different from most people's, but I did specifically buy it after being told the car would not emit signals of any kind, and I'd like to learn about it so that I may OPT OUT of the data collection process by one means or another (such as removing a chip, shielding a module, etc?), depending on what I learn.

    In this, I do ask people to please respect my privacy wishes. I have always been upfront about them. Please do not belittle me by suggesting I must be paranoid or have something to hide, or that I should sell the Prius and buy a 1968 Camaro, or that the information is "secure" where-ever it may be. It's not about that. It's my belief that it's my car, and it's my privacy, and I bought it with that understanding, so it's what I'm trying to work with.

    Thank you for any information which may be shared.

    Jen
     
    #1 almhath, Jul 8, 2013
  2. DKTVAV

    DKTVAV Active Member

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    When did they make the Prius C with solar panel on roof???
     
    #2 DKTVAV, Jul 8, 2013
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  3. Fauxknight

    Fauxknight Active Member

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    The solar panel is needed to provide energy to the transponder, remember he has the special NSA snitch edition of the car...err sorry, I mean Nothing to see here, your car is perfectly normal.
     
    #3 Fauxknight, Jul 8, 2013
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  4. almhath

    almhath Junior Member

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    HI. The solar panel is not relevant to this. I included the information beause some people like to get an image of the car. The solar panel just runs a fan that circulates air if it's hot outside, when I'm out of the car...

    Jen
     
    #4 almhath, Jul 8, 2013
  5. almhath

    almhath Junior Member

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    I see. Verbiage used at my dealership... It's not a "Prius C." It's a Prius Classic 3. I guess they used the C for Classi, but that's misleading.

    So, Can anyone address the issue of EM transmissions?
     
    #5 almhath, Jul 8, 2013
  6. ztanos

    ztanos All-around Geek!

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    The EMs are negligeable and will not be picked up by any meter. The ICE throws out more interference than the EV.
     
    #6 ztanos, Jul 8, 2013
  7. john1701a

    john1701a Prius Guru

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    That's not right either.

    Classic = 2001, 2002, 2003
     
    #7 john1701a, Jul 8, 2013
  8. JimboPalmer

    JimboPalmer Tsar of all the Rushers

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    Did he ever define what he thought E.M. stood for?

    Did he explain where he thought the antenna was, that was transmitting some data?

    Did he explain what was powering this transmission?
     
    #8 JimboPalmer, Jul 8, 2013
  9. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    the day my car turned 5,000 miles, my dealer called to say i needed to bring it in for service.:eek:
     
    #9 bisco, Jul 8, 2013
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  10. Rob.au

    Rob.au Active Member

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    No, it does not.

    The car does have a data recorder that will record some metrics that occur in the lead-up to a crash impact. Toyota discloses what this records and how and when it may be accessed and used in a Privacy Statement that you will find in your manual. It is a physical device and does not transmit data at any time.
     
    #10 Rob.au, Jul 8, 2013
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  11. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    rob, how do we know you're not working for the nsa?
     
    #11 bisco, Jul 8, 2013
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  12. DKTVAV

    DKTVAV Active Member

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    If his location is true he's not in the US.:)
     
    #12 DKTVAV, Jul 8, 2013
  13. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    that's a big IF.
     
    #13 bisco, Jul 8, 2013
  14. KK6PD

    KK6PD _ . _ . / _ _ . _

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    You don't think a spook would not spoof his IP address?

    And yes, you are being tracked 24/7, you are just going to have to get used to it.....
    Ever watch the show "Person of Interest" ..
    "I should know, I built it"
    Just to make it easy I Twitter NSA my sitrep every hour!

    In reality if you have a service like "Onstar" or whatever Toyota calls their service, your car reports data AFTER you had an accident such as position, severity of impact, and tries to enable 2 way comms with you to see if you are still alive. If you have a smart Phone, or Smart Camera turn GPS off, Tinfoil, does not work, sorry!
     
    #14 KK6PD, Jul 8, 2013
  15. Drdiesel

    Drdiesel Active Member

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    Damn it all to hell! I can't find my tinfoil hat anywhere :confused: I just bought an EMP
    long barrel last month, but my targeting system won't be available until next year,
    I bet my Metrics are being sent out to the Gov. each week. I hope my targeting system
    gets here soon :ROFLMAO:
     
    #15 Drdiesel, Jul 9, 2013
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  16. Rob.au

    Rob.au Active Member

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    It's funny, last time I entered the USA I was wearing a Boeing t-shirt. The immigration guy was nice about it, but I had to explain to him that no, I did not work for Boeing, I was just a geek. That all went fine and I collected my bag... then had to have the exact same conversation with the customs guy. :rolleyes:

    Anyhoo, since we're in the c forum and I'm too lazy to look up the liftback manual, below is the statement that appears in the 2013 c's manual. There are slight differences in the 2012 and Australian manuals.

     
    #16 Rob.au, Jul 9, 2013
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  17. Rob.au

    Rob.au Active Member

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    Okay PriusChat can't handle me pasting such large amounts*, continuing on...

    * Or "they" just don't want you to know what's printed in your manual.

    I assume most late model vehicles have this going on.
     
    #17 Rob.au, Jul 9, 2013
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  18. KK6PD

    KK6PD _ . _ . / _ _ . _

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    It will certainly make accident investigation more straight forward.... data is data, it's how you interpret it that matters!!
    If the box says you were doing 70 just before the accident at the city center 35 posted intersection and the light was red, the photo radar cam caught you, Ooops! ! H'mmm I can see why some people would not want this available!
    Oh well, suck it up, it's gonna happen.
    and does happen now!
     
    #18 KK6PD, Jul 9, 2013
  19. ztanos

    ztanos All-around Geek!

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    Georgia Supreme Court has deemed traffic cameras unconstitutional and not allowed in court hearings. But they can still be used for spying. :D
     
    #19 ztanos, Jul 10, 2013
  20. PriusC-illa

    PriusC-illa Member

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    I assume this is the part that the OP has an issue with?
     
    #20 PriusC-illa, Jul 23, 2013
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