GM to Pay $220 Million Over Alleged Sale of Driver Data

General Motors has agreed to pay $220 million to resolve allegations that it illegally sold drivers' location and driving‑behavior data, the attorneys general's office said.

The settlement stems from a multistate investigation led by Washington and brought by a coalition of 36 state attorneys general; Washington's share of the agreement is $12.3 million. Under the terms, GM must obtain express, written consent from customers before collecting or disclosing any location information or driving‑habit data.

Nick Brown, the attorney general, said: "The people of Washington's information is personal and valuable, and they should always control how it is used. We are proud to have led this multistate settlement to hold General Motors accountable for abusing drivers' data."

Prosecutors found that between 2016 and 2024 GM enrolled millions of drivers in a program called Smart Driver. Executives promoted the tool as a safety feature that would not be shared without explicit consent, but in practice the data was transferred under contracts for insurance use. Insurers purchased the resulting reports and used them to adjust policy rates.

Investigators also say customer enrollment frequently occurred at dealer delivery, where sales staff, while activating OnStar, confirmed program terms without buyers' informed knowledge. Internal systems further misrecorded more than 370,000 users as deactivated even as monitoring of acceleration, hard braking and speeding continued.