My new Audi lets me turn off telemetry (at least it claims it does), but it complains every single time I turn the car on and makes me confirm two "no, I don't want to turn it back on" dialogs each time. It will also sometimes (I haven't figure out a pattern) tell my phone to auto-load the Audi app when I get in the car, for no useful reason, and then the app complains that it can't get the data it wants because I turned the data off. It's exceedingly obnoxious.
Mazda claims that they will disable telemetry via the TCU, but when I asked the dealership about it they looked at me like I was speaking a different language. I couldn’t get anyone who knew anything about it and ended up leaving. It’s insane to me that I have to go through hoops to OPT OUT of this stuff, and I had no choice to even opt in.
You might need to dig around for the codes, but with tools like OBDeleven, I've found that on my Audis most of the things that are like that can be turned off. I've done all sorts of things, from adding a gauge sweep (even though it's digital, I like the effect) to turning off the seatbelt warning (my partner unbuckles when we get in the cul-de-sac) to customizing the keyfob (in summer I can open the sunroof with a long press of one of the buttons), etc.
