Where Is the DCM in a 2025 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

Directly behind the HVAC controls in the centre stack, below the radio screen.

Involved - about a dozen trim steps and an airbag comes out. Allow a couple of hours.

Where it is

In the centre stack, directly behind the HVAC / climate controls and below the radio screen.

How it sits: It stands on edge (vertically) behind the centre stack, so you are looking at the narrow edge of the module rather than its face.

How to get to it

Toyota calls for disconnecting the negative battery terminal first. The trim then comes off in this order: the front console box, the driver's door sill trim and door opening weatherstrip, the A-pillar garnish, and the lower dash finish panel - then the driver's knee airbag, which is what finally frees the dash pad. NOTE: this involves an airbag. Disconnect the battery, follow the airbag precautions in a service manual, or hand it to a shop. It is trim work rather than a full dash-out, but it is not a five-minute job.

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 2020-2024 4Runner is the previous generation and mounts the module beside the radio.

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).