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Your connected car can collect far more than odometer readings. Depending on the make, model year, services enabled and local rules, it may process diagnostics, precise location, driving behavior, infotainment activity, account identifiers and, in some vehicles, biometrics or video. Some information stays in the vehicle; other information is sent to the automaker or service providers. The same data that enables navigation, emergency response, remote commands and maintenance can also support advertising, analytics or insurance-related decisions.
There is no single industry-wide data practice. To understand what happens in your car, check the privacy notice and connected-service enrollment for your exact vehicle and region, then review controls in the automaker’s app and infotainment system. The January 2026 Federal Trade Commission (FTC) order involving General Motors and OnStar is an important case, but it applies to the named companies and covered conduct—not automatically to every automaker.
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What data does my car collect?
Connected vehicles combine sensors, onboard computers, cellular links, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and mobile apps. The categories below are examples documented by the FTC; a particular car may collect only some of them, and the timing can differ between always-on functions, service-triggered events and features you actively enable.
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Diagnostics and vehicle performance
Electronic control units can generate information about battery condition, fault codes, tire pressure, mileage, component operation, charging and maintenance needs. Automakers use these signals for remote diagnostics, roadside assistance, recalls, warranty support and predictive maintenance. A diagnostic record may be associated with a vehicle identification number (VIN), an account or a service appointment, making it more than anonymous mechanical telemetry.
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Location and trip details
GPS and cellular systems can provide a vehicle’s current or historical location, routes, destinations and time stamps. Precise location can help emergency responders find a crash, route navigation, locate a stolen vehicle or support geofenced services. Location can also reveal visits to medical or reproductive-health clinics, places of worship or domestic-abuse shelters, which is why the FTC treats it as sensitive information (FTC explainer, 2024).
Driving behavior
Speed, acceleration, hard braking, cornering, seat-belt status, time of day and trip duration can be inferred from vehicle sensors. These signals may support crash detection or driver-safety coaching. They can also become a profile of how, when and where a person drives. The presence of a sensor does not by itself establish that a manufacturer transmits or sells the resulting data; that depends on the service and policy attached to the vehicle.
Infotainment, phone and app activity
Navigation searches, destinations, music choices, contacts, call metadata, voice interactions and internet activity can pass through the infotainment system or a companion app. Pairing a phone may copy contacts or recent destinations into the head unit. App accounts can add email addresses, payment details, device identifiers and records of remote commands such as locking or starting the vehicle. Clearing the phone does not necessarily delete information already stored in the car or in a cloud account.
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Identifiers, biometrics and video
VINs, license-plate numbers, device IDs, account IDs and diagnostic identifiers let systems connect events to a vehicle or user. The FTC has also described biometric and video information as categories cars may collect. Examples raised in its connected-cars workshop include fingerprints, iris patterns and real-time video or images; these are possibilities in the ecosystem, not a checklist for every current model (FTC staff perspective, 2018).
Why collect it? Service functions and secondary uses
The same signal can have several purposes. A location packet may be needed to dispatch emergency help, provide turn-by-turn directions or show a vehicle on a map. A hard-braking event may trigger a safety alert, help investigate a crash or be included in a driver score. Diagnostic data can identify a failing part for a service center while also informing engineering or product planning.
Policies often describe these activities in broad groups such as affiliates, service providers, business partners or “deidentified” analytics. Secondary uses can include audience measurement, personalized marketing, fraud prevention, product research and decisions made by companies that offer insurance or credit. A policy that says data is deidentified does not tell you which vendors receive it, what combinations of data are used, or whether a recipient can link it back to a person. Do not assume that every automaker uses every category for every purpose; enrollment, model year, geography and consent choices matter.
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Who does my car share data with?
Data can leave the vehicle through the automaker’s own systems and through companies operating connected features. Typical recipient categories are:
| Recipient | Why it may receive data | What a reader should verify |
|---|---|---|
| Automaker and its affiliates | Account administration, diagnostics, safety, warranty, analytics and product development | Which entities are covered, retention periods and whether data is linked to your account |
| Connected-service and roadside providers | Emergency response, navigation, remote commands, crash assistance and maintenance scheduling | Whether the service is active by default, what data is required and how to cancel it |
| Infotainment, mapping and app providers | Maps, voice assistants, music, communications and mobile-app functions | Whether searches, contacts, voice clips or device identifiers are sent to named companies |
| Service centers and other contractors | Repairs, call centers, cloud hosting, security, payments and technical support | Whether contractors may use information for their own purposes or only on the automaker’s instructions |
| Data brokers or other third parties | Analytics, marketing, risk scoring or commercial data products | Whether recipients are individually named, described only by category, or not disclosed |
A Consumer Reports investigation reviewed privacy policies and questioned 15 automakers—BMW, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Stellantis, Subaru, Tesla, Toyota and Volkswagen. It reported that many described sharing with affiliates and service providers, sometimes calling information deidentified, but almost every company declined to identify all specific recipient companies. The investigation also reported driving-behavior information reaching companies whose data may be used in insurance pricing and auto-loan offers (Consumer Reports investigation).
Does my car share driving data with insurance companies?
It can, directly or through intermediaries, but the answer is not universal. Some automaker programs are designed to give an insurer a driving score; other arrangements may provide data to a broker or analytics company that offers risk information to insurers or lenders. A privacy policy may describe the recipient by business category rather than name. Participation can also depend on whether you enrolled in a connected-driving, safety or insurance program.
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Evidence about one manufacturer should not be generalized to all vehicles. In a January 2025 announcement, the FTC alleged that General Motors and OnStar collected and sold precise geolocation and driver-behavior information without adequate notice and affirmative consent. The agency discussed signals such as hard braking, late-night driving and speeding, and potential consumer-reporting and insurance consequences. Then-FTC Chair Lina M. Khan said: “GM monitored and sold people’s precise geolocation data and driver behavior information, sometimes as often as every three seconds.” That sentence describes allegations in the GM matter and some affected users, not a measurement of every car (FTC announcement, January 16, 2025).
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the January 2026 GM and OnStar FTC order requires
The FTC finalized its order on January 14, 2026, and announced it on January 16. The order settled the allegations against the named General Motors entities and OnStar; it is not a general privacy statute for the auto industry. Its principal terms are:
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| Requirement | Scope and duration |
|---|---|
| Affirmative express consent | For 20 years, GM must obtain affirmative express consent before covered collection, use or sharing, subject to exceptions stated in the order. |
| Access and deletion | U.S. consumers must have a way to request a copy of covered data and seek deletion. |
| Precise-location control | Consumers must be able to disable precise-location collection where the vehicle supports that control. |
| Opt-out | An opt-out for location and driving-behavior data is required, with limited exceptions. |
| Consumer-reporting restriction | For five years, specified disclosures of covered geolocation and driver-behavior information to consumer reporting agencies are prohibited. |
Eligibility, available controls and exceptions depend on the vehicle and service. GM and OnStar consumers should use the procedures provided under the order rather than assume that a setting on another automaker’s app works the same way. The FTC’s case docket contains the formal proceeding record (FTC final-order announcement; case docket).
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How widespread is sharing with technology companies?
A September 29, 2026 Consumer Reports article described a Northeastern University study that examined network traffic from 21 vehicles and 30 automaker mobile apps. The tested sample covered model years 2022–2025 and included many electric vehicles. The report said traffic included locations, VINs and other identifiers, with Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft among the top recipients. Those findings show what the researchers observed in that sample; they are not a representative percentage for all cars, nor proof that every automaker sends the same fields to the same companies (Consumer Reports report, 2026).
No authoritative source establishes a single industry-wide total for the volume of car data, a universal transmission frequency or a complete named-recipient list. A claim such as “your car reports every three seconds” is therefore too broad unless it is tied to the specific GM allegation and its context.
What determines your car’s actual data practices?
- Make, model and model year: Hardware, software and contract terms change over time.
- Connected-service enrollment: Emergency, navigation, remote-control and maintenance packages may have separate consent screens.
- Geography: Privacy rights, disclosures and available opt-outs vary by country, state and other local rules.
- Account and phone connections: A paired phone, voice assistant or mobile app can add data streams that the vehicle alone would not create.
- Feature settings: Location sharing, personalized services and data-improvement toggles may be independent controls.
How to stop or limit collection and sharing
There is no universal switch that works across brands. Use this vehicle-specific process:
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- Read the applicable notices. Open the automaker’s privacy policy, connected-services terms and enrollment screens. Look for sections on telematics, location, driving behavior, diagnostics, infotainment, affiliates, service providers, data brokers, retention and consumer-reporting use.
- Inspect in-vehicle controls. In the infotainment system, review privacy, data-sharing, location, voice and personalized-services menus. Turn off optional collection only after checking which safety or emergency functions would stop working.
- Inspect the mobile app and account. Review permissions, connected drivers, linked phones, location access, marketing choices and telematics settings. Disable optional sharing and cancel services you no longer need.
- Submit formal requests. Use the manufacturer’s documented channel to request access, deletion or an opt-out. State the VIN, account email, requested data categories and the date range. Keep confirmation numbers and copies of responses.
- Ask targeted questions. Request the names or categories of recipients, retention periods, whether data is sold or used for targeted advertising, and whether driving data is provided to insurers, lenders or consumer-reporting agencies.
- Confirm the result. Check the account and vehicle menus again after processing. Some controls affect future collection but do not erase historical records; obtain written confirmation of deletion where available.
An OBD-II scanner, GPS blocker or other physical accessory is not established as a universal way to disable automaker cloud collection. Physical modifications can also interfere with safety, emergency or warranty functions. The supported approach is the manufacturer’s settings and account-request process (FTC consumer guidance; Consumer Reports guidance).
What to do before selling or transferring a vehicle
Remove your personal accounts from the automaker app and infotainment system, unpair phones, delete contacts and navigation history, clear stored Wi-Fi credentials and perform the system’s factory reset. Cancel or transfer connected services and remove the vehicle from digital-key or household-sharing lists. Ask the automaker whether cloud-stored records require a separate deletion request; resetting the head unit may not erase server-side data. The FTC provides consumer guidance on wiping vehicle data in its connected-car explainer.
Quick Recap
Questions a privacy notice should answer
- Which data categories are collected from this model and service?
- Is collection continuous, event-triggered or opt-in?
- Which functions stop if location or telematics is disabled?
- Are recipients named, or only described as affiliates and service providers?
- How long are raw trips, driving scores, voice data and diagnostics retained?
- Can you access, correct, delete or export the data?
- Is information sold, shared for targeted advertising or used in insurance or credit decisions?
- What changes when the vehicle changes owners or a service subscription ends?
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