The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has finalized an order with General Motors (GM) and OnStar, addressing allegations that they collected and sold consumers' precise geolocation and driving behavior data without adequate notification and consent.

Under the finalized order, GM, which includes General Motors LLC, General Motors Holdings LLC, and OnStar, is prohibited from sharing certain consumer data with consumer reporting agencies. The company is also required to enhance transparency and provide consumers with more control over their connected vehicle data.

The FTC's complaint, initially announced in January 2025, accused GM of using a misleading enrollment process for its OnStar connected vehicle service and the OnStar Smart Driver feature. It was alleged that GM did not clearly inform consumers about the collection of their geolocation and driving behavior data, which was sold to third parties without consent.

The final order imposes a five-year ban on GM from disclosing consumers' geolocation and driving behavior data to consumer reporting agencies. Additionally, for the next 20 years, GM must obtain explicit consent from consumers before collecting, using, or sharing connected vehicle data, with some exceptions for emergency services. The company is also required to allow consumers to request their data, seek its deletion, disable geolocation data collection, and opt out of data collection.

The Commission approved the final order with a 2-0 vote, addressing the concerns raised by commenters.