GM pays $220 million to settle class action over sold driving data

General Motors will pay $220 million to resolve claims that it sold private driving habits to third-party brokers, data that insurance companies later used to calculate consumer rates. The settlement resolves a class-action lawsuit brought by a coalition of more than half the states in the U.S. against the Detroit-based automaker.

The dispute centers on GM's Smart Driver program, which operated from 2016 to 2024. The company marketed the feature as a safety tool to help drivers improve their habits. Drivers were told their information would remain private. In reality, the data was sold under contracts that explicitly allowed for use in insurance products.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced on Thursday that the state will receive more than $7 million from the total payout. Her office noted that most participants signed up for the program at dealerships, often without their direct consent. Employees frequently accepted the terms on behalf of customers while the vehicles were being sold.

GM’s internal systems also failed to inform drivers that tracking was active. The company’s OnStar app incorrectly told 370,000 drivers that they were not enrolled in the program, even though their data was being collected. After discovering the error, GM quietly unenrolled these users without notification. The company allegedly left the accumulated data with the brokers and insurers.

The lawsuit involved 36 jurisdictions, including Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Hawai’i, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.

Some drivers reported premium increases after insurance companies obtained their specific driving habit data. The settlement concludes the multi-year legal dispute over the sale of behavioral data collected through the Smart Driver program.