The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced a new proposal that bans General Motors (GM) and its subscription-based services subsidiary, OnStar, from providing consumer reporting agencies with driver location and behavior data, accusing the automaker of improperly collecting and sharing sensitive consumer data. According to the FTC’s complaint, GM allegedly used deceptive practices to enroll drivers in OnStar services, such as the Smart Driver feature, potentially leading to elevated insurance rates. This will be the agency’s first action related to connected vehicle data.
As outlined by the FTC, as well as numerous previous reports, the Smart Driver feature can collect a wealth of detailed data, including instances of speeding, hard braking, and nighttime driving patterns, sometimes as frequently as every three seconds. The complaint claims that consumers were often unaware that this information was being sold to third parties and could be used to influence insurance rates. General Motors ditched the Smart Driver feature last May.
Under the proposed settlement, General Motors and OnStar are facing several restrictions designed to protect consumer privacy. For example, GM must obtain explicit consent from consumers before collecting geolocation or driving behavior data. Additionally, consumers will be provided witheasy access to the data that is collected, plus options for its deletion and the ability to place limits on geolocation tracking. In addition, GM and OnStar will be banned for five years from disclosing geolocation and driver behavior to consumer reporting agencies.
The FTC states that the consent agreement will be open to public comment for 30 days before it can be finalized.
“GM monitored and sold people’s precise geolocation data and driver behavior information, sometimes as often as every three seconds,” said FTC Chair, Lina Khan. “With this action, the FTC is safeguarding Americans’ privacy and protecting people from unchecked surveillance.”
In the event that General Motors and OnStar violate the finalized order, they could face significant financial penalties, including a civil penalty up to $51,744 per violation.
Back in March of 2024, a Cadillac customer in Florida filed a federal lawsuit against General Motors and LexisNexis Risk Solutions alleging a violation of privacy and consumer protection laws after discovering that data on his driving habits had been shared with insurers. The automaker has since faced intense scrutiny and further legal action over its data sale practices.
GM Authority previously covered how to opt out of GM sharing your driving data with insurance companies.
79 workers affected.
Utilizing existing American manufacturing.
No other incentives offered on next-gen three-row crossover.
With a remedy currently in development.
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For a company that preaches ethics to its employees constantly (especially after the ignition switch disaster) and privacy/info security, they sure sold out for a new income stream. It’s beyond shameful and disgusting. The FTC needs to make this painful and permanent.
Congrats to the FTC stepping in, but geolocation of drivers should never ever be sold to anyone. In fact, it's questionable why GM is even permitted to keep this data. Recently Volkswagen patched their system after they discovered that the location of all of their 800,000 EVs were being displayed online. Car manufacturers have no business possessing this information. It will only lead to bad things, such as the scandal that led the FTC to get involved in the first place.
Pull the 10 amp On Star fuse. Problem solved. That’s what I did and my insurance stabilized.
I would not only pull the fuse you need to disconnect the OnStar module. It will continue to get power through the ECM.
GM should face a class action lawsuit for violating ALL its customers privacy and profiting off the data it mishandled. Slap on the wrist is not enough of a punishment. Thanks Mary for another deception under your leadership.
This is beyond shameful and the punishment for GM’s SLT and anyone else involved in this should be severe.
On my local news, they had a story regarding this and interviewed a woman whose car insurance spiked by 80 percent after GM sold what was described as “603 events” to her insurance company. She drives a Chevrolet Camaro and apparently all of her WOT events were tracked and sold along with hard braking events and instances of “high-speed”. The irony, of course, is that GM sold her a high-performance car then tattletales on her behind her back to her insurance company when she actually tried enjoy its performance capabilities. They did all this to make more money off of her and did so without her knowledge. According to the report, GM apparently told her its Smart Driver Program would collect data through OnStar for her use but instead it was sold to data brokers to make GM more profitable.
Truly shameful behavior on the part of General Motors and, I presume, Barra who I recall was giddy at one time about how much money GM was going to make through subscriptions and OnStar.
This is BS ! Out if all the modern safety features this would make more unsafe drivers and increase criminal activity ! The nations highways are a blood bathe as it is ! If your a responsible driver and obey the rules of the road then no worries !
It will be interesting to see what happens once Trump abolishes the FTC.
I guess we'll be left on our own to file class action lawsuits.