US automotive powerhouse General Motors will pay the state of California US$12.75 million (A$17.63 million), following a settlement reached between the two parties.
Californian prosecutors took General Motors to court after reports surfaced two years ago that the carmaker was selling the driving and personal data of its vehicle’s owners without their knowledge or consent.
In March 2024, The New York Times published an investigation about a Chevrolet Bolt owner who had discovered his driving data was being sold to insurance firms by data broker LexisNexis, a discovery only made after he was quoted a significantly higher insurance renewal premium.
The publication issued a second report regarding a then-proposed class action lawsuit put forward by a Cadillac XT6 owner – Romeo Chicco – who claimed he was denied insurance by seven companies, citing his LexisNexis driving report provided to the firms.
General Motors subsequently ended its partnership with both LexisNexis and Verisk, both of which sold driving data to insurance companies.
In each of the cases, the data was collected via the on-board ‘OnStar’ connected vehicle services system, fitted to more than 14 million vehicles sold in the US. While OnStar’s ‘Smart Driver’ program was voluntary, the proposed class action claimed owners never consented to providing their data.
Two years on and Californian prosecutors are celebrating the settlement with General Motors, which not only includes $12.75 million (A$17.63 million) in civil penalties and strong injunctive terms, but extends to imposing restrictions on GM’s use of consumer driving data, and a ban on such data being sold to data brokers.
“General Motors sold the data of California drivers without their knowledge or consent and despite numerous statements reassuring drivers that it would not do so,” said Attorney General Rob Bonta.
“This trove of information included precise and personal location data that could identify the everyday habits and movements of Californians.
“Today’s settlement requires General Motors to abandon these illegal practices and underscores the importance of the data minimization in California’s privacy law – companies can’t just hold on to data and use it later for another purpose.”
It’s worth noting that General Motors’ Australian offerings do not currently feature OnStar, though other connected services features have recently been included in Cadillac’s new EVs.
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