Teardown of Car Telematics Control Module and Shark Fin Antenna! 

I don't get it, why not just remove the battery from the unit and unplug it from the system? Without power it can't operate. Why rip it off the car completely and leave an obvious defect in the roof? By the way, I found another one not long after in a different area (just the telematics unit) and will be doing another proper teardown of it as well (stay tuned!).

@@devhackmod Speed. It takes less time to unscrew, snip, and toss to keep the car from being tracked. Besides, they can't sell a whole car with a VIN reported stolen so it'll end up at a chop shop and sold for parts. The missing telematics and hole in the roof wouldn't be an issue at that point because neither could be reused.

From what I see online, the 2022 and 2021 models have it under the infotainment control unit. So I would imagine that for 2023 it is likely in there as well. That means it isn't so easy to steal it or disable it maybe?

Thanks, interesting!

Why deface the top of the car when you can just remove the battery from the unit? Surely that would stop any telematics transmission to cellular towers? Or is it just that they need to do it fast and just don't care? The shark-fin is the antenna but the actual unit can be opened and battery removed fairly quickly too. Why remove the antenna and screw up the top of the car if they already removed the telematics unit?

Yes I gather, but why remove it instead of just disconnecting the battery from the module if you already know where it is? They chucked the module and it has a battery so just unplug it and that's it, rather than leave a hole in your roof!