General Motors pays 220 million dollars over driver data sales

General Motors agreed to pay 220 million dollars to resolve a privacy lawsuit involving the unauthorized sale of driver location and habit data.

FTMQ Tech, written by our newsroom31 October 2026 at 00:050 views

General Motors has agreed to pay 220 million dollars to 35 states and the District of Columbia to settle a privacy lawsuit, CNET reported. The legal action centered on the sale of customer driving data collected through the company's Smart Driver program without user consent. [1]

Dealerships offered the Smart Driver program to motorists between 2016 and 2024. CNET reported that an investigation by The New York Times in 2024 revealed that data brokers sold information on driving habits to insurance companies, which used the records to adjust insurance premiums. [1]

The secretly gathered information directly impacted driver costs. According to CNET, some vehicle owners experienced major rate hikes, including one driver who faced a 22 percent increase in insurance premiums based on data supplied by a broker. [1]

Under the terms of the settlement, the automaker must now obtain express consent from drivers before it can collect or share any of their personal driving data. [1]

General Motors agreed to a 220 million dollar settlement with 35 states and the District of Columbia.
The Smart Driver program collected and sold customer driving data from 2016 to 2024.
Insurance companies used the gathered data to increase vehicle insurance rates for some owners.
General Motors must now obtain express consent before collecting or sharing driver data.

Sources

Every paragraph above points to the numbered items it rests on. Read the originals here.

[1]GM’s $220M Payout Shows How Cars Can Secretly Sell Your Driving DataCNET, 4d ago (the report this story comes from)

Background

[2]NASCAR on Wikipedia
[3]Tesla Autopilot on Wikipedia

Our newsroom writes these reports with the help of software, from the 3 sources listed and nothing else, and checks them against those sources. Facts can still be wrong or move on; the originals are the record. Spotted a mistake? Write to daniel@monsterkong.com.

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