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Connected cars can make everyday tasks easier with app-based unlocking, navigation, internet radio, and emergency assistance, but those features may involve collecting and sharing location, driving, app, or other personal data. Older cars may have fewer built-in connected features, but age alone does not prove that a particular vehicle stores or transmits no data. Before buying, check the exact vehicle’s privacy notice, connectivity equipment, data recipients, consent controls, and reset procedure.
What changes when a car is connected?
Connected features can link a vehicle to an automaker’s services, phone apps, internet services, or emergency-support systems. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) cites internet radio and app-based unlocking as examples of useful functions. Depending on the vehicle and services, connectivity may also support navigation, location services, infotainment, and emergency assistance. The features available—and the data involved—vary by vehicle and service.
Connected functions can require or enable the collection of information beyond what a basic, non-connected vehicle needs to operate. The FTC identifies location and biometric information as examples of sensitive data that connected cars may collect. Ford’s U.S. privacy notice, as one automaker-specific example, describes vehicle and driving data, location, app data, and information associated with infotainment and connected services. Neither example is a complete inventory for every car.
How to compare two specific vehicles
Use each car’s market-specific privacy notice, owner’s manual, and actual settings. A model name alone may not tell you which modem, services, or controls are present; ask for the make, model year, trim, and market, and verify equipment by VIN when possible.
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| What to check | Questions to ask |
|---|---|
| Connectivity | Does this vehicle have an embedded modem, telematics service, connected app, Wi-Fi, location services, voice assistant, or connected emergency feature? Is a service account active, and is enrollment optional? |
| Data | What does the notice say may be collected: vehicle, driving, location, app, device, voice, or biometric data? Distinguish what the vehicle could technically access from what the service says it collects. |
| Purpose and recipients | Is information used to provide a requested feature, improve products, conduct analytics or marketing, or support insurance-related functions? Which service providers or other third parties may receive it? Check separate app and provider terms too. |
| Choice and control | Can you decline enrollment, disable precise location or particular analytics, withdraw consent, opt out of sharing, or request access or deletion? What functions stop working when a setting is disabled? |
| Storage and security | What remains in the head unit, driver profile, app account, or cloud service? How is it cleared when ownership changes? |
| Accountability and recourse | Who controls the data or provides the service? Where do privacy requests go, and what rights apply where you live? |
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) identifies six useful comparison areas: transparency, focused data use, security, data accuracy and access, individual control, and accountability. These are organizing principles, not a current rating of vehicle models. GAO’s 2017 review covered selected automakers, was not a compliance assessment, and said its interview results could not be generalized to the entire industry.
What older cars do—and do not—tell you about privacy
An older vehicle may lack an embedded modem, connected app, or some newer services, which can mean fewer built-in routes for collecting data through those features. But “older” is not a privacy specification. The vehicle may still have connected equipment or retain information in its infotainment system, paired devices, or driver profiles. Check the actual equipment and manual rather than assuming that age means no collection or storage.
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What the GM and OnStar case shows
In January 2026, the FTC finalized an order resolving allegations that General Motors and OnStar collected, used, and sold precise geolocation and driving-behavior information without adequate notice and affirmative consent. The FTC release says the order restricts specified disclosures to consumer reporting agencies for five years. During the order’s 20-year life, GM must obtain affirmative express consent for covered collection, use, or sharing, subject to stated exceptions; provide U.S. consumers a way to request copies and seek deletion of data; enable disabling precise geolocation where vehicle technology supports it; and offer opt-outs for geolocation and driving-behavior collection, subject to exceptions. These requirements concern GM and OnStar under this order; they should not be assumed to apply to other automakers. Read the FTC’s order announcement.
What to do before buying—and when buying used
- Get the exact vehicle details. Ask for the make, model, model year, trim, and market-specific privacy notice. Confirm connected equipment by VIN where possible.
- Find out what is active. Ask whether an embedded modem or connected-service account is enabled and whether you can decline enrollment.
- Read the relevant terms. Check data categories, purposes, recipients, retention, and separate app or provider terms.
- Inspect the parked vehicle’s settings. Review data-sharing and location options, app permissions, driver profiles, voice services, and analytics. Ford notes that settings can depend on equipment and infotainment version; consult the vehicle’s manual or ask a dealer about that specific car.
- Ask what disabling a service affects. Confirm whether opting out or switching off a feature changes emergency assistance, navigation, remote access, updates, or other functions.
- For a used car, clear the previous owner’s digital footprint. Ask the seller to remove the vehicle from their account and unpair phones. Clear profiles and address books, then follow the manufacturer’s model-specific factory or connectivity reset procedure. Verify the steps in the manual; Ford advises a reset when no longer using a vehicle and before selling or after buying a used modem-equipped vehicle.
- Recheck after changes. Review settings again after a software update, account transfer, or profile change.
The FTC’s overview of cars and consumer data explains why vehicle data collection and disclosure can affect privacy and financial welfare. Ford’s U.S. privacy notice is a practical example of how an automaker describes connected services and vehicle-specific controls; it is not a guarantee about other brands.
Quick Recap
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