GM Agrees to $220 Million Settlement With 35 States and D.C. Over Smart Driver Data Sold to Brokers for Insurance Products

General Motors will pay $220 million to settle claims it sold drivers’ location and driving data without their consent, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach announced Thursday, Nov. 5, for a coalition of 35 states and the District of Columbia, KCTV5 reported. The settlement resolves allegations that GM collected driving behavior through its connected-vehicle services and sold it to data brokers under contracts intended for insurance products; according to the coalition’s investigation, insurance carriers used the metrics to set or adjust premiums. Between 2016 and 2024, Kobach said, GM enrolled millions of drivers in its Smart Driver program; sales staff, who received bonuses based on OnStar enrollment numbers, allegedly accepted the terms on buyers’ behalf. The OnStar app told more than 370,000 drivers they were not enrolled even as their data was collected and sold, the attorney general said.

Under the consent judgment GM admitted no wrongdoing or liability and agreed to consent requirements; the settlement does not provide direct restitution payments to individual drivers. A GM spokesperson said, “This agreement addresses Smart Driver, a product we ended in 2024.”