Gas tank half full pros/cons?

I don't know about that. Toyota is not disclosing what data they are saving and how to access them. Who knows what are kept permanently. For example, even those data available to the consumers, Drive Monitor EV ratio date is a lifetime data as long as it has not been reset. I am sure Toyota has a way to save it permanently for their data analyses. The past two years worth of Eco Diary data is also available for the owner as well. Maybe two years is all they need for "average user data".

 

If you use Toyota connect, they gather quite a bit of data and have a privacy page that explains exactly what they keep and for how long. For the local data on the vehicle, I don't think they even plug in an OBD2 reader when you go in for any of the scheduled services. This isn't something I'll lose sleep over.

 

I don't have safety connect on my car. One less thing to worry about. But what dealer does when I bring in my car for service is unknown to me, that is if they are so instructed by Toyota. But if Toyota wants to have access to the driving record, I am sure there are ways to do so. They clearly state that "Your vehicle may transmit the data recorded in these computers to Toyota without notification to you" and that "Toyota may use the data recorded in these computers to conduct research and development, and improve quality".

 

If Toyota wanted to know how Prime owners drive their cars, a much more effective way to find out would be to send out a survey, perhaps with a $25 credit at the dealer or gift card after the survey is completed.

 

That disclosure clearly goes beyond the common crash event black box recorder. So it covers something beyond it.

 

If this is a concern, don't take the car to the dealer.

 

its not a concern, i dont care what driving data toyota collects. the point is they are probably collecting quite alot. the memory chip required to store two years of data is nothing, if the data is collected efficiently by the on board computers. it wont be second to second torque numbers of the transaxle. but i'm sure the engineers came up with a long list of data points to collect and analyze. if you go for your free 2 yr maintenance, dealer might just plug in every time...first two years of operational data from every vehicle sold is plenty of data to design every model from PRIME to 4runner.
notice the maintenance is basically worthless, its just a trick to get you to show up !!
like the CIA fake polio vaccine campaign in pakistan. do you really think toyota is above such deception??
its actually a good thing,it will help make every toyota generation better.
they dont have to guess how does a japanese driver operate vs an american driver vs a european driver. and can release models tuned to specific regions, or ideally, offer a few options and let drivers choose !!
option 1) extended EV - bigger battery smaller gas tank. 50 miles EV, total range 350
i would take that option, maybe you wouldnt thats ok, we have different needs.

 

i only put in 4 gallons at a time