Where Is the DCM in a 2020 Toyota 4Runner?

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

In the dash between the head unit and the glovebox, against the left side of the glovebox.

Hard - the factory procedure involves removing an airbag assembly. Worth handing to a shop unless you are confident.

What it looks like in the car

Photos from vehicles we and our customers have actually had apart.

DCM location photo - Toyota 4Runner — Customer photo: glovebox removed, looking at the right-hand side of the radio. The DCM is the dark module with the connectors on its face.

Where it is

In the dash on the passenger side, between the head unit and the glovebox - tight against the LEFT side of the glovebox, nearest the centre stack, not out by the door.

How it sits: It is mounted on edge against the side of the centre stack, connectors facing out toward the glovebox opening.

How to get to it

The factory procedure takes off the door sill trim, the kick panel, the cluster finish garnish, the centre console box, the under-dash cover, the lower dash cover on the driver side. NOTE: this procedure involves removing an airbag assembly - disconnect the battery and follow the airbag precautions in a service manual, or have a shop do it.

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 2025 and newer 4Runner is a different generation and mounts the module elsewhere.

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-DCM77 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).