By Richard Ward, Executive Director, American Vehicle Owners Alliance
In December 2025, the average price Americans paid for a new vehicle and the average manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) hit record highs of over $50,000. Outside of housing, a vehicle is one of the largest monthly expenses for most Americans. Yet as drivers struggle to afford the vehicle in their driveway, automakers are looking for ways to increase their profits even after you drive your car off the lot – through subscriptions, connected services, locked data, and software-controlled features.
Vehicle subscription services like navigation, remote access, hands-free driving, and diagnostics are fueling manufacturers’ earnings while misleading drivers with “free trials” and complicated user agreements. On a recent earnings call, General Motors said its software and subscription services are expected to generate $3.1 billion this year, with customers signed up for $5 billion in future subscriptions.
Those margins drastically exceed those of traditional vehicle sales. GM keeps 70 cents per dollar from software, compared with 4 to 10 cents per dollar from vehicle sales. But the data fueling explosive profit growth isn’t just diagnostic. Modern vehicles collect drivers’ personal data, including location, infotainment use, phone connections, and driver behavior. And unfortunately, automakers have not been good stewards of that data.
While vehicle data legislation has stalled in Congress, federal and state regulators have taken their own actions. Over the last few years:
- The Federal Trade Commission issued an order against General Motors and OnStar in January 2026, finding they collected, used, and sold precise geolocation and driving behavior data from millions of vehicles without adequate notice or affirmative consent.
- California separately reached a $12.75 million settlement with GM over allegations the company illegally sold detailed driving data from hundreds of thousands of Californians to data brokers — including names, phone numbers, home addresses, GPS locations, and more. Nationally, GM profited $20 million from those sales.
The data automakers monetize is often data the owner cannot easily access or control. That imbalance is a property rights problem. A driver who pays more than $50,000 for a new vehicle should not have to buy back access to their own vehicle’s data. A family should not have to wonder whether personal information from the family car is being sold or shared without their consent.
The Data Rights to Information and Vehicle Electronic Records (DRIVER) Act, introduced by Representatives Diana Harshbarger, Randy Weber, and Scott Perry, would restore that control. The bill requires manufacturers to give vehicle owners access to and control over the data generated by their personal vehicles and address manufacturer restrictions and fees on vehicle data access.
The principle is straightforward: if you own the vehicle, you own the data it generates. Automakers can build connected services, sell optional products, and compete for customers after the sale. What they should not be able to do is monetize a driver’s personal data without clear consent, or charge owners extra for access to their own vehicle information.
Congress should pass legislation that protects drivers and clarifies vehicle ownership and protections for the data generated by a person’s vehicle.