General Motors agrees to 220 million dollar deal after quietly selling driving habits to insurers

General Motors has agreed to pay $220 million to settle a lawsuit led by a coalition representing 35 states and the District of Columbia. The action resolved claims that the automaker enrolled millions of motorists into its OnStar Smart Driver program without proper permission from 2016 through 2024. During that period, GM logged driving behaviors such as speeding, hard braking, and late-night travel before offloading the data to brokers, who then sold it to insurers that raised premiums for unsuspecting drivers. [1][2][3]

The agreement mandates that GM obtain express consent from motorists prior to collecting or sharing driving and location details. It also requires the company to implement external and internal privacy assessments and bolster dealership training, after state officials found dealership staff had accepted terms on behalf of buyers and more than 370,000 enrolled drivers were misinformed about their status. GM says it discontinued Smart Driver in 2024 and will no longer sell identifiable vehicle or driver records, though it may still share anonymized details with partners. [2][3]

The payout follows a separate $12.75 million agreement with California in May and an FTC order finalized in January that bars GM and OnStar from sharing consumer geolocation and driving behavior with third parties for five years. The heightened oversight arrives as GM expands connected features across its lineup, including an upcoming OnStar artificial intelligence assistant linked to vehicle cameras that will require granular data permissions. [1][2][3]