Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing one of the nation’s largest automakers after he claimed it was illegally collecting and selling drivers’ data. Paxton is accusing General Motors of selling that data to insurance companies without drivers’ consent or knowledge.
GM is the first car manufacturer to be hit with a lawsuit after the Texas Office of the Attorney General opened an investigation into several manufacturers in June.
The lawsuit alleges GM installed technology in more than 14 million vehicles, allowing the company to compile “driving scores.” The scores assess nearly 2 million Texas drivers on their “bad” habits. These include speeding, braking too fast, steering too sharply into turns, not using seatbelts and driving late at night.
Paxton said insurers could then use the data when deciding whether to raise premiums, cancel policies or deny coverage.
The attorney general claims the technology was installed on most GM vehicles starting with the 2015 model year.
GM was already facing data privacy concerns after The New York Times reported in March the company shared drivers’ data with data brokers. These brokers then gave that information to insurance companies.
The Texas lawsuit calls for the deletion of improperly collected data, compensation for drivers, civil fines, and other remedies for violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
