GM Is Facing A Lawsuit Over Selling Drivers' Onstar Data

Back in January, GM was finally banned from selling consumer data collected by OnStar for five whole years. The ban seems to have come too late for the citizens of Iowa, however, where the state's attorney general has now filed suit against the automaker according to local outlet KIMT3. In the suit, they're demanding financial compensation for allegedly collecting and selling data without informing car owners and drivers. 

Way back in 2023, GM was among a number of automakers caught selling customer data that the company had obtained through its telematics suite OnStar. Then, in 2024, GM was once again called out for the practice — this time, by a New York Times journalist whose data was sold. In 2025 the company was sued for its data sales by the state of Nebraska, with specific attention paid to sales to insurers. That data was allegedly used to raise insurance rates on Nebraskans, for which (and for whom) the state sought financial compensation. 

Iowa didn't just follow Nebraska's footsteps and sue for data sales to insurers, though. Instead, according to KIMT3, the state is suing over sales to both insurers and data brokers — the kinds of sites that offer people's names, addresses, and phone numbers to anyone who'll pay. As such, it's not only seeking cash for the Iowans whose data was sold, but it also plans to impose civil penalties. The goal, it seems, is to make the practice of data sales so unprofitable as to be untenable for GM. 

Suits like this are never over quickly, and GM will likely take years to settle for a dollar amount that slips just a few bucks into Iowans' wallets. Still, maybe the Iowa Attorney General can make these kinds of data sales more hassle than they're worth. Whether it's GM, Nissan, or any other automaker, drivers deserve to know their car won't sell them out.