diff --git a/SConstruct b/SConstruct
index d41cbc16cd..d5f46f8d9d 100644
--- a/SConstruct
+++ b/SConstruct
@@ -51,6 +51,11 @@ AddOption('--external-sconscript',
           dest='external_sconscript',
           help='add an external SConscript to the build')
 
+AddOption('--no-thneed',
+          action='store_true',
+          dest='no_thneed',
+          help='avoid using thneed')
+
 real_arch = arch = subprocess.check_output(["uname", "-m"], encoding='utf8').rstrip()
 if platform.system() == "Darwin":
   arch = "Darwin"
diff --git a/selfdrive/modeld/SConscript b/selfdrive/modeld/SConscript
index a0548ee362..8e4f2569e0 100644
--- a/selfdrive/modeld/SConscript
+++ b/selfdrive/modeld/SConscript
@@ -26,14 +26,17 @@ thneed_src = [
   "runners/thneedmodel.cc",
 ]
 
+use_thneed = not GetOption('no_thneed')
+
 if arch == "aarch64" or arch == "larch64":
   libs += ['gsl', 'CB']
   libs += ['gnustl_shared'] if arch == "aarch64" else ['pthread', 'dl']
 
-  common_src += thneed_src
-  dlsym_offset = get_dlsym_offset()
-  lenv['CXXFLAGS'].append("-DUSE_THNEED")
-  lenv['CXXFLAGS'].append(f"-DDLSYM_OFFSET={dlsym_offset}")
+  if use_thneed:
+    common_src += thneed_src
+    dlsym_offset = get_dlsym_offset()
+    lenv['CXXFLAGS'].append("-DUSE_THNEED")
+    lenv['CXXFLAGS'].append(f"-DDLSYM_OFFSET={dlsym_offset}")
 else:
   libs += ['pthread']
 
@@ -58,7 +61,7 @@ else:
 common_model = lenv.Object(common_src)
 
 # build thneed model
-if arch == "aarch64" or arch == "larch64":
+if use_thneed and arch in ("aarch64", "larch64"):
   compiler = lenv.Program('thneed/compile', ["thneed/compile.cc"]+common_model, LIBS=libs)
   cmd = f"cd {Dir('.').abspath} && {compiler[0].abspath} ../../models/supercombo.dlc ../../models/supercombo.thneed --binary"
 
@@ -75,4 +78,3 @@ lenv.Program('_modeld', [
     "modeld.cc",
     "models/driving.cc",
   ]+common_model, LIBS=libs)
-
diff --git a/selfdrive/modeld/models/driving.cc b/selfdrive/modeld/models/driving.cc
index ba48af051e..8bb46ee0a3 100644
--- a/selfdrive/modeld/models/driving.cc
+++ b/selfdrive/modeld/models/driving.cc
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ void model_init(ModelState* s, cl_device_id device_id, cl_context context) {
   constexpr int output_size = OUTPUT_SIZE + TEMPORAL_SIZE;
   s->output.resize(output_size);
 
-#if defined(QCOM) || defined(QCOM2)
+#if (defined(QCOM) || defined(QCOM2)) && defined(USE_THNEED)
   s->m = std::make_unique<ThneedModel>("../../models/supercombo.thneed", &s->output[0], output_size, USE_GPU_RUNTIME);
 #else
   s->m = std::make_unique<DefaultRunModel>("../../models/supercombo.dlc", &s->output[0], output_size, USE_GPU_RUNTIME);