When you’re looking at your subscriptions in the Lexus app, there is a data agreement you have to accept, where you allow them to collect and share your data. If you do NOT accept, it tells you something about losing functions.

Has anyone DECLINED this agreement?

What has been your experience?

 

You lose the Lexus navigation completely, which may not be so bad for people who use a CarPlay nav app. I think you would lose the app entirely because many of its functions rely on knowing where the car is located. I guess Sirius radio still work.

 

Actually, the navigation system in the car has everything it takes to “know where the car is located”. The GPS satellite receiver in the car is capable of determining latitude, longitude, and elevation without any additional information. Period - that’s what it was designed for.

So if Lexus tells you otherwise. It’s a demonstrable lie. If you buy a handheld GPS device, it never requires anything except GPS satellites in view, which has nothing to do with Lexus or any subscription.
What is lacking in the current GPS system on the Lexus is a map database. In the past the GPS device included a map database and was independent of any outside entity. If the owner wanted more up-to-date math database, they could purchase an updated set of data for, a fee but the update was certainly not required. My 2013 Lexus GS had the original map database and worked just fine 12 years later when I traded the car in.

The cost of including a map database is trivial. Lexus made a conscious design decision to remove the local map database thus forcing a customer to use their mandatory subscription based service. If some people want to get the absolute latest map data, then the subscription service would be a good way to get that, but for those who are satisfied with the currency of the database, the legacy ability could have been retained at a trivial cost., Consider that a handheld GPS device can be purchased at a Walmart for $60 and it never requires any updates. And YES I am familiar with how the GPS works, since I’ve worked with it professionally…I’m a retired engineer.

If you’ve seen my other posts, you know that I’m convinced that this is part of an industry wide effort to coerce customers to allow collection and distribution of their data for purposes beyond the nominal benefits to the customer, and, in fact, against the interests of that customer (e.g. sell to data brokers). Read their data agreement - it has loopholes big enough to drive a truck through. Note also what it does NOT say.

 

The big issue for me is selling data to insurance companies about driving speeds, habits, etc. But if they are just selling my location data - well, the cell phone in my pocket is tracking me anyway and apple/google is already selling that.

 

The core of the problem is that they collect the data in the first place. Once they get it, they pretty much take the attitude that they can do whatever they want with it.

Your concern about selling data to insurance companies, is very real and very serious. It doesn’t take long to come up with tons of examples of people whose rates have suddenly skyrocketed.

You may be interested to know that Lexus collects that kind of data already. When I got the car and was poking through the Lexus app, it didn’t take long to find that there was a record of EVERY trip I had driven, even the hop to the supermarket! For each trip there was a detailed map of my route, including start and stop times, and last, but certainly not least, was my report card for that trip…Lexus never told me about it, so I shouldn’t be surprised where else they sent it without telling me. They can talk their mouths dry about their concern about my privacy, but they have ZERO credibility in my book.

As an aside, there are some things you can do about the cellphone tracking. When you power up your cellphone, part of the startup sequence is checking in with the cellular system to let the system know where the phone is. On that basis it assigns a channel to your phone, and your phone becomes associated with that cell or microcell. That’s how it knows which cell you’re connected to, and where it can find you. As you move, and/or other other users move physically, the system determines what cell your cellphone should be connected to to optimize use of resources. It also controls the power of the transmission, to minimize interference, and conserve battery power in the cellphones. Obviously, the cellular carrier tracks your location for the system to work. If you keep your phone on, you will be tracked. Keep it OFF (not standby) and your phone can’t be tracked.

 

 

Unless you're taking precautions to actually rip out hardware so the vehicle can't communicate to the cloud, at all, then I would assume the data collection is occurring whether you want it to, or not. Not agreeing to the terms may mean you don't benefit from cloud features, but the cynical part of me assumes Lexus is still phoning home and sending the data.