General Motors To Pay $12.5 Million To Settle Claims It Illegally Sold California Driver Data

General Motors has agreed to salary $12.5 cardinal dollars to settee claims that nan automaker illegally sold location and driving information of hundreds of thousands of Californians, authorities officials said Friday.

The colony is an illustration of really automakers are facing much scrutiny complete allegations that they stock driver information pinch nan security industry, influencing really overmuch group salary for coverage. California, though, has a rule that bars insurers from utilizing driving information to group rates.

“If we get connection that a institution is illegally collecting, storing aliases trading user data, we won’t hesitate to look nether nan hood and clasp them accountable to nan law,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said successful a news conference.

The colony is nan largest California Consumer Privacy Act punishment successful nan state’s history, Bonta said.

The enactment gives California consumers nan correct to petition that businesses disclose what information they collect. They tin besides opt retired of nan sharing aliases waste of their individual accusation and petition that businesses delete their data.

Investigators recovered that from 2020 to 2024, GM sold driver data, including names, interaction information, location information and driving behaviour data, to information brokers Verisk Analytics, Inc. and LexisNexis Risk Solutions. The information came from a driver’s usage of OnStar, which is owned by GM and provides roadside assistance, navigation and different services.

General Motors didn’t instantly respond to a petition for comment. Various territory attorneys passim nan state, including successful Los Angeles and San Francisco, were progressive successful nan investigation and settlement.

Technology has been playing a bigger domiciled successful nan car industry, but nan information collected from drivers tin uncover individual accusation astir people’s regular habits, including wherever they driblet disconnected their kids and expert visits.

The California Privacy Protection Agency successful 2023 started investigating nan privateness practices of connected cars. As nan authorities was looking into nan automakers, The New York Times reported successful 2024 that GM was sharing user driving behaviour pinch security companies. Nationwide, GM reportedlymade astir $20 cardinal from trading information to Verisk and LexisNexis.

The state’s privateness protection agency has taken action against different automakers before. Ford Motor Company was fined $375,703 successful March and Honda was fined $632,500 successful 2025 for privateness violations.

Under nan GM settlement, which still needs tribunal approval, nan automaker would delete immoderate driving information nan institution kept wrong 180 days and petition that nan 2 information brokers do nan same. They would besides extremity trading driving information to user reporting agencies for 5 years and create a privateness programme that includes assessing and mitigating nan risks of information collected from OnStar.

California’s colony pinch GM came aft nan Federal Trade Commission successful 2025 besides took action against nan automaker and OnStar for its privateness practices, barring them from disclosing location and driver behaviour information to user reporting agencies for 5 years.