Where Is the DCM in a 2019 Lexus ES250 / ES300h / ES350?

The DCM — the Data Communication Module, part of Safety Connect / Connected Services — is the module our bypass harness plugs into. Finding it is the only tricky part of the install. Pick your vehicle and we will show you where it lives and what has to come apart to reach it.

Not sure whether your vehicle even has one? Look for an SOS or Call Toyota button near the rear-view mirror or in the overhead console. No button means no DCM — and no need for the bypass harness.

Short answer

Low in the centre console, at the base of the centre stack.

Moderate - trim panels and the module's fasteners, no radio removal. Steps are from a customer's install on a 2023 ES 350, not a factory procedure; email us before you start if anything looks different on your 2019.

Where it is

At the front of the centre console, centred in the car rather than off toward the driver's side, directly below the strip of seat heater switches at the base of the centre stack - the same spot as on the 2020-2025 ES, per Toyota's parts-location drawing for this car. It is reached from below, through the console trim; the radio does not have to come out. The 2019 uses the 38-pin white DCM connector (90980-12817).

How to get to it

There is no factory removal procedure for the 2019, so these steps come from a customer's install on a 2023 ES 350. The 2019 is the same generation and should be very similar, but we have not confirmed the brackets, nuts or number of plugs on a 2019 module. 1. Put the car in neutral - the console trim has to rotate around the shifter - then switch it off. 2. Remove the leather kick panels on the driver and passenger sides of the centre console. 3. Remove the small trim piece between the centre console and the seat heater switches. 4. Pull up the centre console trim and rotate it 90 degrees around the shifter. The DCM should now be visible, directly below the seat heater switches. 5. Put a towel or rag under the DCM before you touch its fasteners - they are easy to drop. 6. Remove the fasteners holding the DCM (on the 2023 it was two 10mm nuts on metal brackets). 7. Pivot the module out just enough to reach its back face and unplug every connector on it, including the small antenna leads. 8. Plug the AHH-DCM92 into the car's 38-pin white connector (90980-12817). 9. Refit the trim in reverse order.

No SOS button near the rear-view mirror or overhead console means the vehicle was built without Safety Connect - there is no DCM to bypass and this kit is not needed.

The bypass harness for this vehicle

Our bypass kit disconnects the DCM without losing your front right speaker or the hands-free Bluetooth microphone — the two things that stop working if you simply unplug the module.

See the AHH-DCM92 DCM bypass harness »

Still cannot find it, or your trim looks different? Email us with your year, model, and a photo of your dash and we will point you straight at it.

Vehicles we have mapped so far

We are adding vehicles as we confirm them. Do not see yours? Ask us — that is how this list grows.

Looking for the harness itself? AHH-DCM77 (2020 and newer) — AHH-DCM92 (2016-2020).