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Spying on you?

wrath

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18 Challenger RT. 26 Civic SI (soon).
I want to pull the trigger on a 2026 or 2027 Civic SI. My first brand new car in 10 years, and quite possibly my last, if these trends keep up! My brother has a Cadillac Blackwing and he had the same issue with all his driving data being sold to Lexis Nexis.

Those of you who removed your TCU:

Any problems with warranty?

can I still connect the phone via bluetooth without it spilling the beans?

if OTA updates are disabled, do I really need to bother with updates at all? Unless it's some major safety recall thing, i don't see the need.

Thank god the TCU is easy to remove. most cars you'd have to take out the entire dash board. hopefully that's still the case for the 2027s
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zumbooruk

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2025 FL5, 2014 Chevy Suburban (wife), previous 2007 FA5
I want to pull the trigger on a 2026 or 2027 Civic SI. My first brand new car in 10 years, and quite possibly my last, if these trends keep up! My brother has a Cadillac Blackwing and he had the same issue with all his driving data being sold to Lexis Nexis.

Those of you who removed your TCU:

Any problems with warranty?

can I still connect the phone via bluetooth without it spilling the beans?

if OTA updates are disabled, do I really need to bother with updates at all? Unless it's some major safety recall thing, i don't see the need.

Thank god the TCU is easy to remove. most cars you'd have to take out the entire dash board. hopefully that's still the case for the 2027s
Have not needed to use warranty

No issue with Bluetooth, I deleted the Honda app from my phone

Updates are only for the entertainment system, can easily be updated via USB thumb drive

FYI above is for the Type R, but I assume Si should be the same
 

blueroadster

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2024 Civic Type R, 2026 Passport TSE, 2026 Pilot BE, 1964 Impala SS
I want to pull the trigger on a 2026 or 2027 Civic SI. My first brand new car in 10 years, and quite possibly my last, if these trends keep up! My brother has a Cadillac Blackwing and he had the same issue with all his driving data being sold to Lexis Nexis.

Those of you who removed your TCU:

Any problems with warranty?

can I still connect the phone via bluetooth without it spilling the beans?

if OTA updates are disabled, do I really need to bother with updates at all? Unless it's some major safety recall thing, i don't see the need.

Thank god the TCU is easy to remove. most cars you'd have to take out the entire dash board. hopefully that's still the case for the 2027s
No issues with warranty. With the TCU disconnected/removed, when/if you bring the car in for service at the dealer, they will not be able to use their tablets to remotely connect to the car. Instead, the service technician will connect the tablet via a hard wired connection to the OBD port to read data from the various systems on the CAN bus.

No issues with phone connectivity to the infotainment unit after the TCU has been disconnected/removed. Phone can still be used via Bluetooth or wired connection. Phone connection would still be a snitch but without vehicle specific information collected and beaconed back to the Honda mothership.

Regarding OTA updates, better off being disconnected from the mothership. When connected for example, navigation updates will be downloaded for your local area. If you want a full U.S. based navigation update, then you will need to download separately and install the update with a USB drive. Yet another reason to use offline updating.

I agree and thank Honda for making the TCU easy to remove without issue. The same cannot be said for other manufacturers that integrated telematics into other systems to make them a PITA to remove without suffering. Chevy slowly integrated that crap over decades with OnStar.
 

Xmetal

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I found a fuse (#26) called TCU in the engine bay fuse box. However, it's uninstalled from the factory. If so, why is my TCU still working perfectly fine?

11th Gen Honda Civic Spying on you? TCU Fuse1
 


ThunderPigeon

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2024 Rallye Red Civic Type-R #24723
I found a fuse (#26) called TCU in the engine bay fuse box. However, it's uninstalled from the factory. If so, why is my TCU still working perfectly fine?

TCU Fuse1.webp
Probably a generic fuse box and the TCU in this car doesn't have a dedicated fuse.
 

Sporky McGeuschky

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You're welcome!
Hey,
In this day and age, many times the "obvious" must be stated, even when, in the back of your head, you're telling yourself,

"Everyone knows this already. I don't really have to spell this out for them, right? ... RIGHT???
Well, better do it anyway... just in case."
No, not everone knows "the thing" already.
Yes, sometimes you do have to spell it out for them, and therefore make yourself Captain Obvious.
While most of us make fun of Captain Obvious out loud, we're quietly the same people who are glad we didn't "ask the stupid question", which needed to be answered by none other than... Captain Obvious.

To all the Captians Obvious of the World:
Cheers.​

The rest of us all think we're smarter than you... until we're not.
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