If you had a suspicion your modern car is spying on you, you’re probably right. Vehicles these days are connected to the Internet of Things, able to feed data back to the cloud in real time. Once it’s there, what happens next may not be something you explicitly agreed to. Now the tide is starting…
I’ll anxiously wait for my 2$ settlement in the mail!
that $220M is pennies compared to what they got from selling that data
General Motors reported a net income attributable to stockholders of $2.7 billion for the year 2025, which was a significant decline from $6 billion in 2024.
without all that data they would be in the negative.
That doesn’t address his point. Just because they suck in every other part of their business doesn’t mean they failed to make lots of money off your data.
My point is they still made billions and were fined a tiny fraction of that in comparison.
yep just an information sales tax 😂 basically another government endorsed trade channel
Just one more reason to never buy garbage american cars. I learned my lesson after my first. Never trust american companies, ever.
Honestly, I’d suggest first finding which cars have guides to remove or disable that shit and go from there.
Serious question, what new car can I buy that won’t spy on me and send all my data to the manufacturer? I’ll be in the market for a new car in a couple of years, and I’ve had a hard time finding anything where this wasn’t an issue.
The only new car I’m aware of that should not monitor you would be the Slate pickup. Early in their development they mentioned this as a feature, but they haven’t brought it up in a while. So something to double check.
Become a old car enthusiasts. Mid 2000’s to 2013 was probably some of the best years in vehicles.
Going to save yourself a arm and a leg too fixing it yourself. Cost like 4 grand to get a electric windshield motor replaced these days on a modern car, when it should cost 50 dollars and a long afternoon for what should be a quick fix.
Only downside is you better have multiple cars. I’ve had to leave mine on the jacks for a day because I couldnt reach a bolt/nut or needed to get a different part because I broke a sensor. If you’re an idiot like me working off YouTube guides and Googling forum posts from nearly 20 years ago then you can’t start betting on your ability to finish the job on time.
At the end though you can feel proud and confident that you can fix it again next time. I haven’t gotten into anything too serious yet but i’ve replaced all the rubbers, changed all the fluids, done the cat converter, replaced all sensors, spark plugs, breaks, break pads, etc. Most I’ve spent on any given part was 600 for the 3 part cat converter. All the breaks where up there too but I did it in pairs. YouTube has everything you need, and I surprise myself given how dumb I am. Also helps to have a friend to ping things off of, especially if they have a car lift. The car lift changes everything and abuse that privledge as much as you can.
a car that’s not meant to be sold anywhere in the western world. there’s too much profit in collecting and sell all of your data for any corporation to pass up – just like w phones.
Which car is that? Because I guarantee Asian manufacturers spy on you just the same.
I genuinely don’t know. I drive a 2017 Japanese car that I don’t believe collects telemetry or data of any kind. I plan to drive this car until the wheels fall off.
You might be surprised. I have a 2017 chevy and it definitely does report data back to GM. I have a close friend that works there and was able to confirm this. I thought there was no way since it was old, and it has no internet access of any kind that I can see. But it uses the cell network to report back data. I suspect it reports alot less interesting data than new cars. But for sure, it is sending data back to GM over the cell network.
protip: the modem on some cars can be disabled by pulling the fuse.
Thank you! That had not occurred to me. I’ll give it a shot.
Other companies from other countries do this as well. You shouldn’t trust any car maker.
Pretty much. I drive a car that has NO “smart” features at all. I will keep it as long as I can.
I only want my data extracted by honorable japanese capitalists, not american pig capitalist
That’s the spirit!
I prefer the VW. Yeah, they are clearly trying to collect everything they can, but I think their software corrupts the data. I mean something is happening that they can’t seem to make money off anything. Waiting until the battery warrenty is up to mess with anything that could take it off their grid.
I’d much rather have my info taken by a foreign company than an american one.
I’d much rather have my info taken by neither a US-American one, nor another foreign one. I want my info to be taken exclusively by Swiss bankers! Their extortion letters look better than the others’.
