US regulator tells GM to hit the brakes on customer tracking

US regulator tells GM to hit the brakes on customer tracking

Summary

The US Federal Trade Commission has finalised a consent order (dated 14 January 2026) that bans General Motors and its OnStar subsidiary from sharing drivers’ precise location and driving behaviour data with consumer reporting agencies for five years, under a broader 20-year order. The FTC found GM collected and sold detailed telematics via the Smart Driver feature without clearly informing customers, funneling data through brokers such as LexisNexis and Verisk that sold it to insurers.

The settlement requires GM to obtain explicit consent before collecting or sharing covered connected-car data, give consumers easy access to their data, provide deletion options, and allow users to disable precise geolocation collection. The FTC still permits sharing for emergencies and some anonymised uses for traffic analysis and safety research. GM says it discontinued Smart Driver in April 2024, claims it has already made many of the required changes, and calls the order broader than existing law.

Key Points

• The FTC’s consent order bars GM/OnStar from sharing drivers’ precise location and driving behaviour data with consumer reporting agencies for five years, within a 20-year order.
• Smart Driver, marketed as a safety feature, collected telematics including precise location, hard braking, acceleration, speed and seatbelt use and routed data to brokers.
• Investigations revealed data brokers (LexisNexis, Verisk) received the data and sold it to insurers, potentially affecting premiums.
• GM shut down Smart Driver in April 2024 and says it unenrolled users and ended the third-party telematics deals that fed brokers.
• The order demands clear consent for future data collection, easy consumer access to data, deletion options, and the ability to disable precise geolocation collection.
• FTC allows sharing for emergency response and limited anonymised internal or partner uses such as traffic analysis and road safety projects.

Context and relevance

This is a significant enforcement action in the evolving intersection of automotive connectivity, consumer privacy and the insurance market. Regulators are signalling they will not tolerate opaque telemetry practices even when features are framed as safety tools. The ruling affects carmakers building revenue streams from connected-vehicle data, data brokers that monetise telematics, and insurers that use such feeds to influence premiums. Expect clearer consent mechanisms, tighter privacy controls in connected-car programmes, and closer regulatory scrutiny across the automotive sector.

Why should I read this?

Because if you drive a connected car, your movements might have been being sold behind your back — and that can hit your insurance premium. This ruling is a proper warning to automakers and data brokers: be upfront or be stopped. Quick, important and potentially impactful to anyone who cares about privacy in the age of connected vehicles.

Source

Source: https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2026/01/15/ftc_gm_tracking_ban/