General Motors Agrees to 220 Million Dollar Settlement Over Unauthorized Driver Data Sales
American automotive manufacturer General Motors has agreed to pay 220 million dollars to resolve allegations that it unlawfully collected and sold customer driving habits and real-time location data to commercial data brokers, according to legal reporting from The Verge and Courthouse News Service on Thursday, October 29, 2026. The agreement resolves claims following a multistate investigation conducted by a bipartisan coalition of 36 state attorneys general, co-led by Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield and Washington Attorney General Nick Brown. Under the terms of the consent decree, the automaker must establish strict limits on vehicle telemetry collection and secure affirmative express consent from drivers prior to recording or disseminating personal driving behavior.
Multistate Settlement and Regulatory Injunctions
The regulatory enforcement action centered on the automaker's connected vehicle feature known as Smart Driver, which monitored millions of vehicles between 2016 and 2024 by tracking precise acceleration patterns, braking frequency, and travel distances. State attorneys general alleged that the manufacturer sold detailed driving telemetry to third-party data brokers, who subsequently repackaged the profiles for insurance carriers for insurance underwriting, potentially affecting customer premiums. Government inquiries revealed that General Motors generated approximately 20 million dollars nationwide between 2020 and 2024 by selling connected vehicle telemetry to two prominent data brokerage firms.
In August 2024, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued General Motors for allegedly collecting and transmitting detailed driving data from 2015 model year or newer vehicles to generate driving scores sold to insurance companies.
Reuters reported that the $220 million agreement resolves allegations from 35 state attorneys general and the District of Columbia concerning GM's Smart Driver data programme, used from 2016 until 2024.
Smart Driver Data Harvesting and Insurer Exploitation
Most motorists were enrolled into the surveillance initiative at automotive retail dealerships during vehicle purchasing transactions, where the carmaker paired Smart Driver registration with standard OnStar service activations. Sales representatives received financial bonuses tied directly to connected vehicle enrollment quotas, creating commercial pressure to maximize sign-ups. Furthermore, official investigations revealed that internal software systems malfunctioned, with the OnStar mobile application incorrectly informing more than 370,000 drivers that they were not enrolled in Smart Driver while corporate systems actively harvested and commercialized their personal driving records.
Dealership Enrollment Incentives and Software Errors
The national settlement represents the latest major regulatory action targeting connected automotive privacy practices. The agreement follows a separate 12.75 million dollar settlement finalized with the State of California earlier in the year regarding OnStar data sales. The settlement provides payments to participating jurisdictions, with Washington slated to receive 12.3 million dollars, according to its attorney general. In response to the settlement, General Motors stated that connected vehicle data enables personalized consumer experiences, affirming commitments to transparency regarding information usage and customer sharing choices.
In January 2025, General Motors reached an agreement with federal regulators to restrict the sharing of certain motorist details, according to Thomson Reuters.