Disconnecting 2021 OnStar

[CTown Duramax]

Has anyone with a 2021 Tahoe or Yukon disconnected On Star? No one should ever submit to this level of data collection, black box, GPS and voice. Aggregating it will tell you things you don't even know about yourself.

I understand that one can call on star and they will shut off the service. But that's not enough.

I see this video about unplugging the coaxial cables. It says the only side effects are losing the compass and the speed zone warnings.

I don't think the video shows a 2021 or 2022 Hoe. I like the compass but don't care about it that much.

 

[ltrain4]

I never considered this. I’m a bit of a privacy nut and you’ve given me something to really consider.

Im picking up my 22 next week and I’ll be curious if anyone can share how doing this went.

 

[THarber]

Just pull the fuse.

TH

 

[Bill 1960]

I can tell you from my experience with a 2020 a few things.

Firstly, if you tell Onstar to disconnect you, all they’ll quit doing is sending you the reports. They WILL NOT disconnect your vehicle from their telemetry services and stop recording your data.

Secondly, it’s not as simple as a fuse. It’s integrated into the car network and infotainment and it’s not a single component you can unpower without affecting other systems.

There are some how to vids on older models but I haven’t seen one for vehicles this new. Cutting the antenna coax and intentionally shorting it at the transceiver would likely do it.

 

[CTown Duramax]

Hi Bill 1960. The video I linked shows unplugging the cable. Yes, what you said. It's not simple. And we have industrial computer tech knowledge in this family. The code can't be rewritten and altering the circuits is going to have consequences. I am just wondering what the consequences are. I have never worked on/messed an electrical system.

P

 

[CTown Duramax]

Just pull the fuse.

TH

Yes, that would be good. But what I am reading about this is that the system operates outside the fused circuits.

 

[CTown Duramax]

I never considered this. I’m a bit of a privacy nut and you’ve given me something to really consider.

Im picking up my 22 next week and I’ll be curious if anyone can share how doing this went.

Yes, this is a serious invasion of privacy. It records your voice. It keeps all your locations. It monitors all your driving, brakes, gas, speed, etc. Imagine someone following you everywhere making a recording of everything you do and say.

But the worst part is it supports accurate predictive modeling. Data aggregation and analysis is so good now that it can predict whether you're going to turn left or right before you've even decided which way to go.

 

[Doubeleive]

in the past other people have had a need to disconnect onstar because they worked in a sensitive environment, generally the permanent fix is to unplug the module
so that being said the 2021 should have a module behind the infotainment screen/area, simply disconnecting the gps antenna may not fully disable it because since about 2016 they also use 4g and it is not entirely dependent upon satellite alone.
doing this on a 2021 may or may not give a annoying error message on the dic/screen
be aware also that as of 2022 GM's global B system is a fully integrated network with wireless which is there new system, I suspect that information mining will be unavoidable and you will have to "agree to there terms" which is likely buried in the fine print in the sales doc's.

 

[waynehead99]

This is just a piece of the puzzle. If you don't want data collected on you, don't own a cellphone... and make sure you disconnect the cellphone that is built into the truck.

There are much bigger ways that these companies collect the data on you, and Onstar is a small piece to a much bigger pie.

I hate the data collection too on our lives and do my best to minimize it, but the only way to get around it is to stay off the internet completely, don't interact with companies that utilize the internet (like banks and grocery stores)... and not buy an vehicle that is newer than 2000.

 

[Doubeleive]

This is just a piece of the puzzle. If you don't want data collected on you, don't own a cellphone... and make sure you disconnect the cellphone that is built into the truck.

There are much bigger ways that these companies collect the data on you, and Onstar is a small piece to a much bigger pie.

I hate the data collection too on our lives and do my best to minimize it, but the only way to get around it is to stay off the internet completely, don't interact with companies that utilize the internet (like banks and grocery stores)... and not buy an vehicle that is newer than 2000.

true google and apple will follow you in your vehicle anyway.......as well as the many app's installed
just as well I can say to my wife "we need a new water heater" and walla a couple days later here are ad's for water heaters