October 29, 2026 – Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has joined a coalition of 36 attorneys general in a $220 million settlement with General Motors over allegations the company sold consumers’ private driver behavior data and location information without their consent.

According to the Michigan attorney general’s office, the data was sold to third parties, including data brokers who then sold it to insurance companies. For many consumers, the data was allegedly used by insurance companies in part to set insurance rates.

The State of Michigan will receive $7,205,319 through the settlement.

The settlement requires GM to obtain affirmative express consent from consumers before collecting or disclosing consumer driving and location data. It also requires GM to limit the driving data it collects from consumers and protect their personal information as part of a comprehensive data privacy program. The terms include internal and external data protection and privacy program assessments.

GM also agreed to oversight and training requirements at its dealerships to protect consumers against being enrolled in data collection schemes without their consent.

The settlement does not provide consumer restitution. A nationwide private class-action lawsuit seeking monetary relief remains pending.

“Drivers deserve to know what information about them is being collected and how it may affect their wallets,” Nessel said. “Discovering after the fact that a company has been tracking and selling their driving data without their consent is unacceptable. This settlement will hold GM accountable for its past conduct and secure meaningful safeguards, so drivers have greater control over their information in the future.”

From 2016 to 2024, GM enrolled millions of drivers in its Smart Driver program, which tracked their driving habits, the attorney general’s office said. GM presented the tool as a way for drivers to improve their own driving safety and told drivers it would not share their data with insurers without express consent.

The coalition found that GM sold the information to data brokers under contracts that specified the data was to be used for insurance products. The data brokers sold the data to insurance companies, which could change a driver’s premium based on driving habits. The attorney general’s office said 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, according to the attorney general’s office. In many cases, dealership employees allegedly accepted terms and conditions on behalf of customers without their consent. At the time, GM was incentivizing dealerships to sign up as many customers for OnStar as possible.

The attorney general’s office said GM’s systems did not notify drivers about whether their data was being tracked. The OnStar app mistakenly told more than 370,000 drivers they were not enrolled in Smart Driver when they were enrolled and GM was collecting and selling their data.

GM later unenrolled these drivers without telling them about the mistake and allegedly left their data with the data brokers and insurance companies, the attorney general’s office said.

The attorney general’s office said the data GM sold was personal, identifiable, and specific. Insurers had data showing how many times a person drove their vehicle, the start and end times of each drive, how many times they braked or accelerated quickly, and whether they went faster than the speed limit.

As documented in The New York Times, insurance companies reportedly used this information to change rates, sometimes increasing premiums. After The New York Times reported on these practices, GM discontinued the Smart Driver program.

Along with Nessel, the coalition includes Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, 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.

By WNEM
Read More Here