ATTORNEY GENERAL RAOUL ANNOUNCES $220 MILLION GENERAL MOTORS SETTLEMENT FOR SHARING DRIVERS’ PRIVATE DATA
Chicago – Attorney General Kwame Raoul, as part of a bipartisan coalition of 36 attorneys general, today announced General Motors (GM) will pay $220 million to settle allegations that it illegally sold consumers’ private driver behavior data and location information to third parties, including data brokers who then sold the data to insurance companies. Illinois will receive approximately $10.5 million.
Raoul and coalition claim the sold data included personally identifiable data, such as how many times a person drove their vehicle, the duration of each drive, how many times drivers quickly braked or accelerated, and if drivers went faster than the speed limit. The settlement, which was filed in conjunction with the coalition’s complaint, requires GM to obtain affirmative express consent from consumers before collecting or disclosing consumer driving and location data.
“General Motors took advantage of thousands of drivers by collecting sensitive information that then made it into the hands of insurance companies to set insurance rates,” Raoul said. “These actions are unacceptable and could ultimately take more money out of Illinois consumers’ pockets. I will continue this bipartisan work to hold companies accountable to the customers they serve.”
From 2016 to 2024, GM enrolled millions of drivers in their Smart Driver program, which tracked their driving habits. GM pitched this tool as a way for drivers to improve their own driving safety and assured drivers their data would not be shared with insurers without express consent.
However, Raoul and the coalition found that GM sold this information to data brokers under contracts that specified the data was to be used for insurance products. The brokers sold the data to insurance companies, which could then change the driver’s premium based on their driving habits. GM did not disclose to drivers that their data would be sold for this purpose.
Most customers who signed up for Smart Driver did so at the GM dealership when they bought their car. GM used one sign-up process for drivers to enroll in Smart Driver along with GM’s OnStar services. In many cases, dealership employees allegedly accepted terms and conditions on behalf of customers without their consent.
Raoul and the attorneys general claim that GM’s own systems failed to notify drivers if their data was being tracked. The OnStar app mistakenly told over 370,000 drivers they were not enrolled in Smart Driver, when they actually were enrolled. GM was collecting and selling their data and then quietly unenrolled those drivers without communicating the mistake, but still left drivers’ data with the brokers and insurance companies.
Raoul and the coalition’s settlement also requires GM’s comprehensive data privacy program to limit the driving data it collects from consumers and protect their personal information. GM also agreed to oversight and training requirements at its dealerships to protect consumers against nonconsensual enrollment in data collection schemes.
Joining Raoul in filing this settlement are the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.
Privacy and Data Security Unit Supervisor Carolyn Friedman and Assistant Attorneys General William Dimas and Richard Lewis handled the settlement for Raoul’s Consumer Fraud Bureau.
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