Your Car Collects Data? Check
Modern cars log where you go, how you brake, even how aggressively you corner — and the manufacturer's app happily syncs it all to the cloud. Your car has a privacy policy you never read. Here is how to find your car's data settings, limit what gets collected, and see what is already held.
TL;DR / Quick Fix
Connected cars log location, driving behavior, and infotainment use, sharing it with the maker and partners. Open the car's infotainment privacy settings and the companion app, switching off data sharing, location collection, and marketing uses. Request a copy of your data to see what's held. Safety systems stay on regardless.
Follow these steps
- Read the car's privacy notice. Find it in the infotainment system or the companion app. Skim the 'what we collect' and 'who we share with' sections — they are the map for everything below.
- Turn off data sharing in the infotainment system. Look under Settings > Privacy or Data Sharing. Switch off marketing, analytics, and 'product improvement' collection.
- Limit the companion app's permissions. The phone app often wants location-always and contacts. Trim it with a permissions audit — the app works with less.
- Opt out of marketing and partner sharing. This is usually a separate consent from the functional connected services. Decline it explicitly.
- Request a copy of your data. Most makers have a privacy request form. Seeing the actual file motivates every other step here.
- Factory-reset the infotainment before selling. Your paired phones, home address, and destinations stay in the car otherwise. Reset wipes them.
What NOT to do
- Do not assume quitting the app stops the car. The built-in modem reports independently of anything on your phone.
- Do not skip the reset when selling. The next owner otherwise inherits your home address and frequent destinations.
- Do not accept every 'connected service' at purchase without reading. Decline the marketing-flavored ones on the spot.
- Do not expect safety systems to switch off. You are limiting data sharing, not disabling emergency or warranty telemetry — those usually cannot be turned off.
Frequently asked questions
What data does my car actually collect?
Typically location, driving dynamics like braking and speed, and infotainment usage. The exact list varies by maker and trim — the privacy notice names it.
Can I fully opt out?
Not entirely: safety and warranty telemetry usually cannot be disabled. Marketing and partner sharing almost always can.
Who buys car data?
Aggregators, insurers, and advertisers appear in most policies' sharing lists. Read yours to see the actual names.