What Data Does My Car Collect, Automaker by Automaker

What data does my car collect about me? If it's a connected vehicle built in the last decade, probably more than you'd guess, and the specifics depend heavily on which badge is on the hood. Modern cars with connected services log where you drive, how you drive, and sometimes what you look like or say behind the wheel. What happens to that data next — whether it stays on the vehicle, goes to the automaker, or gets sold to an insurer — varies by brand, and in one major case, by what regulators say the automaker actually told customers.

What data does my car collect about me?

Connected cars generally gather four kinds of information. There's geolocation: continuous or periodic GPS trails of where the vehicle goes. There's driving behavior: speed, braking, acceleration, seatbelt use, and trip duration. There's biometric and camera data from driver-facing sensors meant to catch distraction or drowsiness. And there's data pulled from your phone, plus whatever the automaker infers from all of it.

GM's own privacy statement spells out several of these categories for OnStar-enrolled vehicles. It defines "Precise Geolocation" as location within a radius of 1,850 feet, and separately collects what it calls Driver Behavior Information — data on how you drive, including vehicle speed, seatbelt use, braking and acceleration habits, and trip time and duration, according to GM's U.S. Consumer Privacy Statement. GM says it does not collect raw camera images from interior sensors like its Super Cruise Drive Monitoring System, but it may still collect information derived from those sensors, such as a flag when the system detects a distracted or drowsy driver.

Toyota's connected-services notice lists precise geolocation and "biometric data (Facial Geometric Features)" as sensitive personal information it collects, per Toyota's Connected Services Privacy Notice. Toyota says that facial-geometry category stays on the vehicle itself and is not sent to Toyota or anyone else.

Which car companies sell driving data to insurance companies?

This is the part with real money attached: driving data turned into risk scores that insurers use to help set premiums. The clearest documented case is GM. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton alleges GM "used technology installed in most 2015 model year or newer GM vehicles to collect, record, analyze, and transmit highly detailed driving data" and sold it to companies that generated "Driving Scores" which were then sold to insurers, according to the Texas Attorney General's lawsuit against General Motors.

Below is a comparison built from each automaker's own current notice where one was available, plus the U.S. Senate's letter to the FTC on industry-wide practices where it was not.

Automaker	What it collects (per its notice)	Shares with insurers?	Law enforcement standard	Source
General Motors	Precise geolocation (1,850-ft radius) and Driver Behavior Information (speed, braking, seatbelt use, trip data) when enrolled in OnStar	With consent, for usage-based insurance offers or rate-setting; also the subject of an FTC order banning sharing with consumer reporting agencies for five years	Requires a warrant or court order for location/driving data, absent exigent circumstances or statutory authority	GM privacy statement
Toyota	Precise geolocation and "Facial Geometric Features" biometric data; facial data stored on-vehicle only	Sells/discloses identifiers, commercial info and inferences to a satellite-radio partner for marketing; notice does not describe insurer sharing	Told senators it will disclose location data on a subpoena alone, not a warrant	Toyota Connected Services Privacy Notice; Senate letter to the FTC
Honda, Ford, Tesla, Stellantis	Location and driving data collected via connected services (Tesla says it receives location only around safety events)	Not detailed per-brand in the letter	Require a warrant or court order for location data, absent emergency or consent, per the senators' review	Senate letter to the FTC
Hyundai	Location and driving data collected via connected services; retained for up to 15 years	Not detailed per-brand in the letter	Also meets the industry's pledge to require a warrant or court order	Senate letter to the FTC
Nissan, Subaru, Volkswagen, BMW, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Kia	Location and driving data collected via connected services	Not detailed per-brand in the letter	Confirmed they will disclose location data on "a mere subpoena," which does not require judicial approval	Senate letter to the FTC

Retention periods also differ by brand: the senators' letter found Hyundai routinely keeps vehicle location data for up to 15 years, Toyota up to 10 years, and Honda up to 7 years, while Tesla says it only receives location data tied to safety events and Mercedes-Benz says it doesn't systematically collect historical location data at all.

Did GM really sell driver data without consent?

That's the core allegation in two separate cases. Texas's lawsuit says GM deceived many of its customers by compelling them to enroll in its products, including OnStar Smart Driver, as part of the vehicle's onboarding process, telling them that skipping enrollment would deactivate safety features — when in fact, the state says, that enrollment was what GM treated as the customer's agreement to have driving data collected and sold, according to the Texas AG's release. The federal complaint tracks the same territory: the FTC says it settled allegations that GM and OnStar collected, used and sold consumers' precise geolocation and driving behavior data from millions of vehicles without adequately notifying consumers and obtaining their affirmative consent, per the FTC's press release on the final order.

Texas isn't alone. Its investigation, which began with GM in June 2024, expanded by early 2025 to include Ford, Hyundai, Toyota and Fiat Chrysler, and Arkansas and Nebraska have filed similar lawsuits against GM, alongside a wave of consumer class actions, according to Captain Compliance's rundown of the state actions.

What happened in the FTC settlement with GM and OnStar?

The FTC's order, finalized by a 2-0 Commission vote, imposes a five-year ban on GM disclosing geolocation and driver behavior data to consumer reporting agencies — the type of company that turns driving data into a score used by insurers, per the FTC's announcement. GM's own current privacy statement now says it discloses Driver Behavior and Precise Geolocation data to GM Insurance only when a customer has given affirmative consent, for usage-based insurance offers or to help set an insurance rate, per GM's privacy statement. The order restricts future conduct only; the FTC's release describes no monetary payment.

Do automakers share data with law enforcement?

Yes, but the legal bar to get that data varies by brand. Nineteen automakers signed onto a set of voluntary privacy principles in 2014 pledging to require a warrant or court order before turning over location data to police, except in emergencies or with the driver's consent, according to the Senate letter to the FTC. The senators found five companies — GM, Honda, Ford, Tesla and Stellantis — actually require a warrant, and said Hyundai also meets the industry's warrant/court-order pledge. Toyota, Nissan, Subaru, Volkswagen, BMW, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz and Kia told the senators they would hand over location data on a subpoena alone, which does not require a judge's sign-off. GM's own notice confirms it will disclose Driver Behavior and Precise Geolocation data to comply with a lawful government request only when that request comes as a warrant or court order, absent an emergency or other legal authority, per GM's privacy statement. Of the group, only Tesla has a policy of notifying customers when their data is subject to a legal demand, unless a judge has issued a gag order.

How do I stop my car from sharing my data?

Start with the program that actually generates the driving score: GM customers can review or leave OnStar Smart Driver, and some model year 2019-and-later GM vehicles let owners disable OnStar location services through the infotainment system's privacy settings, though GM notes it may still collect location data in an emergency even after that's switched off, according to GM's privacy statement.

Toyota owners can opt out of Connected Services or request that data transmission be deactivated at any time, either by pressing the "SOS" button in the vehicle or through the Toyota app, which stops collection of certain location, driving, vehicle health and account data, per Toyota's Connected Services notice.

Beyond built-in toggles, check the automaker's privacy portal for a data-deletion or download request, and read the specific disclosure section of the notice — not just the marketing page — to see which third parties, like insurers or subscription partners, the notice actually names. Given how much brand-to-brand variation the state lawsuits and the Senate's review have already turned up, the safest assumption is that a feature working one way at one automaker tells you nothing about how it works at another.