General Motors data privacy legal settlements

In 2026, General Motors faced significant legal actions regarding the handling of driver data. Initially, California regulators announced a $12.75 million settlement under the California Consumer Privacy Act. State officials stated the company sold names, contact information, location, and driving data of hundreds of thousands of Californians to data brokers without providing required notice.

Following this, General Motors reached a much larger $220 million settlement with a coalition of 36 states and the District of Columbia. This investigation focused on the Smart Driver program, which operated from 2016 to 2024. While marketed as a tool to help motorists improve safety, the program allegedly tracked driving habits, such as hard braking and rapid acceleration, and precise geolocation without clear consumer consent.

Allegations indicated that the company sold this private telemetry to brokers, including LexisNexis and Verisk, who then provided it to insurance companies. This potentially allowed insurers to adjust driver premiums based on the collected data. As part of the multi-state agreement, General Motors must now obtain express consent from drivers before collecting or sharing such data and must submit to independent third-party compliance assessments.