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Connected cars can record far more than mileage. Depending on the make, model year, connected-service enrollment, consent choices, and local law, a vehicle may generate diagnostics, precise location, driving-behavior signals, infotainment activity, identifiers, and sometimes video or biometric information. Automakers can use those data for navigation, emergency response, remote commands, maintenance, safety, and entertainment; related data may also be disclosed to affiliates, contractors, app companies, data brokers, insurers, lenders, or other businesses. There is no single data policy for every car, so the reliable answer for your vehicle is in its privacy notice, enrollment screens, and account controls.
What data does my car collect?
A connected vehicle is an ecosystem of sensors, cellular or Wi-Fi links, an infotainment system, a manufacturer account, and third-party services. Some information stays in the vehicle; some is sent to the automaker or a service provider; and some may be combined with account or app data. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) describes the following categories as possibilities, not a checklist that applies to every current vehicle.
| Category | Examples | Common service uses |
|---|---|---|
| Diagnostics and performance | Fault codes, component condition, battery or fuel information, maintenance indicators, and whether systems are operating properly | Remote diagnostics, roadside assistance, service reminders, warranty support, and safety alerts |
| Location and telematics | Precise or approximate position, route information, trip timing, and vehicle status | Navigation, stolen-vehicle assistance, emergency response, geofencing, and location-based remote services |
| Driving behavior | Speeding, hard braking, acceleration, cornering, mileage, trip times, and other sensor-derived signals | Crash or safety functions, driver feedback, usage-based programs, and risk analysis |
| Infotainment and app activity | Searches, destinations, music choices, contacts, calls, internet use, voice interactions, and settings | Navigation, hands-free communication, media playback, personalization, and app integration |
| Identifiers and account data | Vehicle identification number (VIN), device identifiers, subscription records, and account details | Authentication, billing, service enrollment, fraud prevention, and linking a car to an owner or driver |
| Biometrics and video | Depending on equipment, fingerprints, iris patterns, cabin or exterior camera footage, or other biometric signals | Access control, driver monitoring, safety features, and security functions |
The FTC staff’s 2018 connected-cars report discusses examples ranging from aggregate traffic information to vehicle-specific, sensitive personal data. Its examples include real-time location, infotainment records, hard braking, and—on vehicles equipped for them—fingerprints or iris patterns. Equipment, software, subscription status, and regional rules determine which signals a particular car actually produces.
Why location is especially revealing
Precise location can show visits to medical or reproductive-health clinics, places of worship, domestic-abuse shelters, workplaces, homes, and other sensitive destinations. The FTC’s 2024 explainer warns that a location record can create privacy, employment, insurance, credit, and personal-safety consequences when it is reused or disclosed.
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- Sturdy and Compact: Equipped with a 2.5 foot cable made of very thick, flexible insulation. It is important to have a sturdy scanner as it can easily fall to the ground when working in a car. The AD310 OBD2 scanner is a well-constructed mechanic tool with a sleek design. It weighs 12 ounces and measures 8.9 x 6.9 x 1.4 inches. Thanks to its compact design and light weight, transporting the device is not a problem. The buttons are clearly labelled and the screen is large and displays results clearly
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Why do automakers collect it?
Collection often begins with a function the driver can see. Emergency call systems need a vehicle position; navigation needs destinations and map context; a remote-start app needs an authenticated account and vehicle status; and diagnostics need technical readings. Infotainment features may process contacts, searches, or media accounts to provide hands-free calling and personalized content.
The same signal can support a secondary purpose. Driving behavior might be analyzed for a safety score, a usage-based service, advertising, insurance-related decisions, or another business product. A privacy notice may describe these activities as analytics, personalization, business operations, or sharing with service providers. Do not assume that a purpose listed for one model or subscription applies to another.
Who does a car share data with?
The recipient is not always the vehicle manufacturer itself. A connected-car arrangement can involve several layers:
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- Automaker affiliates: Corporate subsidiaries may provide financing, roadside assistance, marketing, or software.
- Service providers and contractors: Cloud hosting, call centers, mapping, analytics, payment processing, and maintenance systems may receive information to perform a contracted task.
- Infotainment and app providers: Navigation, music, voice-assistant, smartphone, and other integrated services can process the data needed for their features.
- Data brokers or other third parties: Policies may permit disclosure for analytics, marketing, advertising, fraud prevention, or other purposes. Some companies may receive information described as deidentified or aggregated, but those terms do not identify every recipient or eliminate every re-identification risk.
- Authorities and emergency organizations: Disclosures can occur when required by law or to provide emergency and safety services.
A 2024 Consumer Reports investigation examined policies and questioned 15 automakers: BMW, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Stellantis, Subaru, Tesla, Toyota, and Volkswagen. The investigation said many policies described sharing with affiliates and service providers, while almost every automaker declined to identify all specific recipient companies. It also reported that driving-behavior information reached companies whose data could be used in insurance pricing and auto-loan offers. That finding describes the policies and disclosures reviewed, not a universal practice by every automaker.
What network-traffic testing shows—and does not show
A separate Consumer Reports report published September 29, 2026 described a Northeastern University study that examined network traffic from 21 vehicles and 30 automaker mobile apps. The tested traffic included locations, VINs, and other identifiers; Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft were among the top recipients reported for that sample. The vehicles were model years 2022–2025 and included many electric vehicles. Those observations cannot be converted into a percentage for all cars, a universal transmission frequency, or a complete recipient list for every brand.
Does my car share driving data with insurance companies?
It can, directly or indirectly, but there is no industry-wide rule that every connected car sends driving records to an insurer. An automaker may offer a usage-based program, disclose data to a partner, or permit another company to use driving information in insurance or lending decisions. The Consumer Reports investigation described data reaching companies whose information may influence insurance prices and auto-loan offers; it did not establish the same chain for every vehicle.
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To determine your exposure, look for terms such as “driving behavior,” “telematics,” “usage-based insurance,” “consumer reporting agency,” “marketing partners,” and “financial products” in the privacy notice for your exact model year and region. Ask the automaker whether a named insurance or data partner receives identifiable records, what fields are shared, how long they are retained, and whether declining the program affects vehicle functions.
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The most significant recent U.S. enforcement action in this area concerns specific General Motors entities and OnStar, not every automaker. On January 16, 2025, the FTC announced action based on allegations that GM and OnStar collected and sold consumers’ precise geolocation and driving-behavior data without adequate notice and affirmative consent. The announcement described signals including hard braking, late-night driving, and speeding, and discussed potential consumer-reporting and insurance consequences.
Then-FTC Chair Lina M. Khan said in that announcement: “GM monitored and sold people’s precise geolocation data and driver behavior information, sometimes as often as every three seconds.” The statement is an allegation in that case and applies to the conduct described there, not to all connected vehicles.
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The Commission finalized the settlement order on January 14, 2026, and announced it on January 16. The final order announcement and case docket describe these obligations:
| Requirement | Scope and duration |
|---|---|
| Affirmative express consent | For the 20-year order term, covered collection, use, or sharing requires affirmative express consent, subject to the order’s stated exceptions. |
| Access and deletion | U.S. consumers must have a way to request a copy of covered data and seek its deletion. |
| Precise-location control | Consumers must be able to disable precise-location collection where the vehicle supports that control. |
| Opt-out | A mechanism must allow U.S. consumers to opt out of covered location and driving-behavior collection or sharing, with limited exceptions. |
| Consumer-reporting restriction | For five years, specified covered geolocation and driving-behavior information may not be disclosed to consumer reporting agencies. |
These are settlement obligations imposed on the named GM entities. They are not a federal privacy statute covering every manufacturer, and they do not prove that another brand uses the same collection or sharing practices.
How to check and limit your own car’s data
Because labels and controls differ, use the following process for the exact make, model, model year, connected-service plan, and country or state where the vehicle is registered.
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- Identify every connected service. List the manufacturer account, trial subscriptions, emergency service, remote-control app, navigation account, smartphone integrations, and any usage-based insurance or safety program.
- Read the vehicle-specific privacy notice. Use the link shown in the owner portal, enrollment screen, infotainment system, or app. Check sections covering categories collected, purposes, recipients, retention, sale or sharing, and rights requests.
- Review in-car privacy controls. Open the infotainment system’s Settings or Privacy area and record switches for location, diagnostics, personalization, voice, contacts, data sharing, and connected services. Menu names vary; do not assume a switch controls cloud processing merely because it says “privacy.”
- Review the automaker app and web account. Look for Privacy, Connected Services, Permissions, Data Preferences, Marketing, Location, and Driver or Safety settings. Disable optional uses you do not need, then save the confirmation and note the date.
- Submit formal requests when available. Use the manufacturer’s published privacy-request channel to ask what data is associated with your account or VIN, how to delete eligible data, and how to opt out of optional sharing. Keep the request number and response. Procedures and legal rights differ by jurisdiction.
- Check partner accounts separately. Removing a music, mapping, voice-assistant, or insurance account from the car may not delete records already held by that provider. Use that provider’s privacy controls as well.
- Recheck after software or ownership changes. An update, new subscription, second driver, replacement phone, or change of region can alter available settings and disclosures.
Before selling, leasing, or transferring the vehicle
Sign out of the automaker account and third-party apps, remove paired phones, clear contacts, call history, navigation destinations, garage-door credentials, Wi-Fi passwords, and other stored content, and cancel or transfer connected-service enrollment. The FTC’s car-data explainer links to consumer guidance on wiping vehicle data. A factory reset may clear the head unit without closing a cloud account, so confirm both steps with the manufacturer.
What will not reliably stop cloud collection
An OBD-II scanner, GPS blocker, removal of a phone, or other physical accessory is not a universal solution. Such devices may interfere with safety, navigation, warranty diagnostics, or legal operation while leaving the vehicle’s built-in cellular connection intact. The documented controls are manufacturer account settings, vehicle or app permissions, consent choices, and formal access, deletion, or opt-out requests. If a feature is safety-critical, ask the automaker what disabling data collection will do before changing it.
Important limits when comparing privacy policies
- Model year matters: A policy for a 2025 vehicle may not describe a 2022 vehicle, even within the same brand.
- Enrollment matters: A car with no active connected-service subscription may transmit less than one enrolled in remote services or a driving program, but built-in emergency or diagnostic functions can have separate terms.
- Geography matters: Consent, deletion, and opt-out rights can differ by country, state, or province.
- “Deidentified” is not a complete recipient list: A policy may describe categories of recipients without naming each company or explaining every data field.
- There is no authoritative market-wide total: Available publications do not establish a universal volume of data, transmission interval, or complete named-recipient list for all automakers. The “every three seconds” figure belongs to the allegations in the GM case, while the Northeastern study covers only its tested sample.
Practical questions to ask the automaker
- Which location, driving-behavior, diagnostic, infotainment, identifier, video, or biometric fields does this exact vehicle generate?
- Which fields leave the vehicle, under what trigger, and for how long are they retained?
- Which affiliates, service providers, app companies, data brokers, insurers, lenders, or other recipients receive identifiable data?
- Is any data used for advertising, insurance pricing, credit or lending decisions, or consumer reports?
- Can I disable precise location or optional driving-data sharing without losing emergency or legally required safety functions?
- What are the exact access, correction, deletion, and opt-out steps for my account and VIN?
Those answers, tied to your vehicle and location, are more useful than a generic claim that all cars either “track everything” or “share nothing.”
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