General Motors will pay $220 million to settle allegations that it sold drivers’ driving-habits data to data brokers, under an agreement reached with a coalition of 36 state attorneys general. The settlement also requires GM to limit the data it collects. The case centers on GM’s now-discontinued Smart Driver program, which gathered information on acceleration, braking, and trip length.
According to the states, GM passed that information to data brokers, which allowed insurance companies to buy it and raise premiums. The states also accused GM of not telling drivers they were enrolled in Smart Driver and that the automaker was collecting their data. Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield and Washington Attorney General Nick Brown co-led the case, which also included New York, Florida, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and many other states.
The settlement arrives just months after GM agreed to pay $12.75 million to resolve similar claims in California. The multistate action expands the financial and regulatory consequences for GM over the Smart Driver program, which the company has since discontinued.
In a press release, Rayfield said people who bought a car did not buy a tracking device. He said GM told drivers the program would help them drive more safely and promised it would not share their data with insurers without permission, but the investigation found GM sold the data anyway, and some drivers paid for it through higher premiums.
For U.S. drivers, the settlement touches on how vehicle data can flow from automakers to brokers and then to insurers. The states’ allegations focus on consent and disclosure around Smart Driver enrollment and on the subsequent sale of driving-habit information. The $220 million payment and the data limits are the core terms disclosed in the settlement.
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