General Motors will pay $220 million to settle allegations that it sold drivers' location and driving data to brokers who shared the information with insurance companies, Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield announced Oct. 29.
Oregon will receive more than $10.4 million under the settlement, KGW reported, citing the Oregon Department of Justice. The deal affects any Oregon driver whose GM vehicle was enrolled in the automaker's Smart Driver program between 2016 and 2024.
"People bought a car, not a tracking device," Rayfield said in a statement.
The settlement centers on Smart Driver, which tracked motorists' driving habits. GM marketed the program as a tool to help drivers improve their safety. State investigators alleged the company sold driving data to brokers under contracts specifying the information would be used for insurance products, according to the Oregon Department of Justice.
Those brokers then sold the data to insurance companies, which sometimes used it to adjust drivers' rates. The data included trip times, driving frequency, hard braking, rapid acceleration and speeding, according to the department.
Rayfield co-led the case with Washington Attorney General Nick Brown. Washington will receive $12.3 million. The Washington Attorney General's office said the settlement involved a coalition of 36 attorneys general. The Hill reported the number as 35 states and the District of Columbia. GM did not admit wrongdoing, The Hill reported.
How drivers were enrolled
Customers were enrolled in Smart Driver at dealerships when they purchased vehicles, through a process that also signed them up for GM's OnStar services. The state investigation found that dealership employees in some cases accepted terms on customers' behalf without their consent, according to the Oregon Department of Justice.
The Washington Attorney General's office said GM heavily incentivized dealerships to sign up customers. Sales employees received bonuses based in part on enrollment numbers, and dealerships were ranked by how many customers they enrolled.
The OnStar app also falsely told more than 370,000 drivers they were not enrolled in Smart Driver, even as GM collected and sold their data, according to the Oregon Department of Justice. GM later removed those drivers without telling them about the error. Their previously shared data remained with brokers and insurers.
What the settlement requires
GM must now obtain clear, affirmative consent before collecting or sharing driving and location data. The settlement also requires the automaker to limit the data it collects, establish a comprehensive data privacy program and undergo internal and external assessments of its data protections. GM must provide oversight and training for dealerships to prevent customers from being enrolled without permission.
A GM spokesperson told KGW the agreement addresses a discontinued product and reflects steps the company has already taken to strengthen its privacy practices.
The case was brought under Oregon's Unlawful Trade Practices Act, the state's consumer protection law. Rayfield's office said the law allowed the state to pursue the allegations because much of the conduct occurred before Oregon's consumer privacy law took effect in July 2024.
The Federal Trade Commission took separate action against GM in January 2025, banning the company from disclosing certain driver data to consumer reporting agencies for five years, The Hill reported.
