GM agrees to $220 million driver-data settlement

General Motors will pay $220 million to settle allegations brought by a bipartisan coalition of 36 attorneys general that it collected and sold drivers’ personal driving and location data to brokers, which passed it to insurers for use in setting premiums. The data reportedly included trip frequency and duration, hard braking or acceleration, and speeding; the settlement requires GM to obtain consumers’ affirmative, express consent before collecting or sharing such information. States said GM promoted its Smart Driver program as a safety tool while failing to disclose its insurance-related data sales, and that dealership sign-ups often bundled enrollment with other services, sometimes without customers’ consent. Investigators also said the OnStar app incorrectly told more than 370,000 drivers they were not enrolled even as their data was collected, and that GM later unenrolled them without notifying them.