Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against General Motors, alleging the company engaged in false, deceptive, and misleading business practices by unlawfully collecting and selling the private driving data of over 1.5 million Texans to insurance companies without their knowledge or consent.
This legal action follows Paxton's June 2024 announcement of an investigation into several car manufacturers regarding allegations of improper data collection from vehicles and subsequent sales to third parties.
"Our investigation revealed that General Motors has engaged in egregious business practices that violated Texans’ privacy and broke the law. We will hold them accountable," said Attorney General Paxton. "Companies are using invasive technology to violate the rights of our citizens in unthinkable ways. Millions of American drivers wanted to buy a car, not a comprehensive surveillance system that unlawfully records information about every drive they take and sells their data to any company willing to pay for it."
The lawsuit claims that General Motors used technology installed in most 2015 model year or newer GM vehicles to collect, record, analyze, and transmit detailed driving data each time a driver used their vehicle. This information was then sold to various companies, including at least two entities for generating "Driving Scores" about GM customers, which were subsequently sold to insurance companies.
According to the complaint, General Motors misled many customers by compelling them to enroll in its products—such as OnStar Smart Driver—during the vehicle onboarding process. Customers were told that failing to enroll would result in deactivation of safety features. However, unbeknownst to them, enrolling meant agreeing to the collection and sale of their driving data. Despite lengthy disclosures, General Motors allegedly never fully informed customers about this systematic data collection and sale.
The investigation is part of a broader data privacy and security initiative launched by Attorney General Paxton in June 2024 aimed at ensuring companies respect Texans' privacy rights and comply with privacy protection laws.
To read the filing, click here.