Written by: Haim Ravia, Dotan Hammer
The Federal Trade Commission finalized a sweeping order against General Motors and its OnStar subsidiary, concluding a year-long enforcement action over allegations the automaker secretly collected and sold detailed driving data from millions of vehicles without consumer consent.
The order, approved by a 2-0 Commission vote, imposes a five-year ban on GM sharing consumers’ precise geolocation and driving behavior data with consumer reporting agencies—data brokers that supply information to insurance companies and other businesses. The restrictions represent what the FTC called appropriate relief given GM’s “egregious betrayal of consumers’ trust.”
According to the FTC’s complaint, originally filed in January 2025, GM used a misleading enrollment process to sign consumers up for its OnStar Smart Driver feature without clearly disclosing that the system collected granular data on their driving habits and location, which GM then sold to third parties.
Under the 20-year consent order, GM must obtain affirmative express consent from consumers before collecting, using, or sharing connected vehicle data. The company must also establish systems allowing all U.S. consumers to request copies of their data and seek its deletion, disable precise geolocation tracking if their vehicles support it, and opt out of data collection entirely. Limited exceptions apply for emergency services, such as providing location data to first responders.
The settlement includes no financial penalty but mandates fundamental changes to how GM handles the vast streams of data generated by modern connected vehicles. GM discontinued its Smart Driver program in April 2024 following a New York Times investigation that revealed the scope of the company’s data-selling practices.
Click here to read the FTC’s order against General Motors LLC, General Motors Holdings LLC, and OnStar, LLC
