GM OnStar Settlement Reached With FTC Over Selling Private Driving Data

Federal regulators have banned GM and OnStar from providing driving information to any consumer reporting agencies for the next five years, following recent allegations that the companies have been collecting and selling personal data from millions of drivers without their consent.

OnStar is a GM subsidiary, which provides in-vehicle services, including automatic crash response, roadside assistance, stolen vehicle tracking, navigation and other connectivity features to drivers. Since 2016, the service has been integrated into new GM vehicles, and marketed as a feature owners can access through a vehicle-mounted button, voice commands or a mobile app.

However, in early 2024, information surfaced alleging that customer information like vehicle location data, acceleration and hard braking events was collected by GM and OnStar and sold without consent to consumer reporting agencies LexisNexis and Verisk Analytics, which many claim was then used by insurance companies to increase drivers’ premiums.

Since the release of this news, multiple GM OnStar class action lawsuits have been filed on behalf of vehicle owners, each raising similar allegations that their private driving data was secretly collected without their consent, which was then used against them by insurance carriers.

Given common questions of fact and law raised in complaints brought throughout federal courts nationwide, one of the  plaintiffs, Jariya Thongsawang, filed a motion on April 5 to centralize the cases in California or Michigan for pretrial proceedings. On June 6, 2024, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation granted the request, transferring the claims to the Northern District of Georgia under Judge Thomas W. Thrash, Jr. as part of MDL No. 3115, the Consumer Vehicle Driving Data Tracking Litigation.

To resolve separate actions taken by federal regulators, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a press release announcing a GM OnStar settlement agreement on January 16, which will require the companies to take additional steps to provide more transparency to consumers over the collection and use of their driving data.

The proposed FTC order (PDF) mandates General Motors LLC, General Motors Holdings LLC, and OnStar, LLC to limit the amount of data they collect and give customers the ability to withdraw their consent for data collection. It also requires the companies to delete previously collected data, provide customers with access to their data upon request, and offer options to disable OnStar location tracking and opt out of the data collection program entirely.

In their original complaint (PDF), federal regulators accused GM of using misleading enrollment processes to sign up customers for the OnStar service and Smart Driver features. In addition, the FTC alleged that GM failed to disclose it collected OnStar users’ precise locations and driving behavior data and sold that data to third parties without customers’ consent.

“GM monitored and sold people’s precise geolocation data and driver behavior information, sometimes as often as every three seconds,” FTC Chair Lina M. Khan said. “With this action, the FTC is safeguarding Americans’ privacy and protecting people from unchecked surveillance.”

According to the FTC’s press release, its OnStar Decision is the first action the agency has taken related to connected vehicle data.

2025 GM OnStar Lawsuit Update

At a GM OnStar lawyers meeting held in October 2024, the parties discussed a proposed Joint Report and Discovery Plan, which outlined timelines and strategies for advancing the cases. Preliminary discovery issues, including document preservation and initial discovery orders, were reviewed as well, along with early discovery requests by plaintiffs and considerations on jurisdiction and arbitration for efficient case management.

A master consolidated class action complaint was then submitted on December 13, 2024, to be followed by a proposed discovery order in early 2025 and motions to dismiss by March 13. Fact discovery is anticipated to begin in mid-2025 and is projected to continue into late 2026, laying the groundwork for trials or a settlement.

As the GM OnStar litigation progresses, attorneys are offering free consultations and claim evaluations for individuals who suspect their driving data was collected and sold to third parties, potentially qualifying them for a settlement.