this video was brought to you by brilliant. Hi, welcome to another episode of Cold Fusion. Car companies are collecting your driving data, including location, acceleration, speed, facial expressions, and even sexual activity. And they do this to either deny warranty claims or to pass off to insurance companies to raise your premium. Your car could be spying on you, and at least one automaker is sharing that information with insurance companies. A Henry County woman learned it was happening to her when her insurance bills skyrocketed, and now she's warning others about the issue. Her car is essentially turning into a computer and collecting data on you as you drive. On June 8th, 2024, Brian was driving his 2023 Toyota Corolla GR on the highway. He then noticed that something was wrong. Smoke started pouring into the interior. Brian pulled over to take a look and see what was going on, and before he knew it, the front end of the car was completely in flames. Some of the damage was covered by insurance, but the remaining cost was to

be covered in a warranty claim by Toyota. After all, the car was only 1 year old and just caught fire for no apparent reason. But to his horror, Toyota denies his claim. Why? According to their reply, his car had sent data packets to headquarters indicating that he'd driven in excess of 85 mph at some point during his ownership, among other excuses. They concluded that they couldn't provide any assistance due to his irresponsible driving. This was despite the fire having nothing to do with how fast he drove the car at a completely separate time. For context, the GR Corolla is a rally car that can do 0 to 60 mph in under 5 seconds. This scenario sounds like a comic relief B-plot in a dystopian sci-fi movie, but this is very real and is happening today. Today, we dig into the frankly insane hidden tactics of car companies that we all should be aware of. You are watching C Fusion TV. [Music] In 2023, there was a review of the privacy standards of 25 major car brands.

by the Mozilla Foundation. The results were a complete disaster. 25 out of 25 brands failed to meet consumer privacy standards. According to the ABC Australia, the report revealed that murky and vague privacy policies allowed brands like BMW, Ford, Toyota, Tesla, Kia, and Subaru to collect highly sensitive and personal data. Shockingly, this includes information on sexual activity, immigration status, race, facial expressions, weight, health, genetic information, and driving locations. And unfortunately, these companies can potentially sell this data to third parties, and the data is being collected by sensors, microphones, cameras, car apps, the phones and devices that drivers connect to their cars, and company websites. The report named Nissan as the worst offender, as they collected data on quote sexual activity, health diagnosis data, and genetic data, but strangely no one knows exactly how they got this information. Nissan say that they can share and sell consumers quote preferences, characteristics, psychological trends, predispositions, behavior, attitudes, intelligence, abilities, and aptitudes end quote. Nissan or Nissan if you're American can give this information to data brokers, law enforcement, and other

third parties. The report also called out Tera's privacy policies as a near incomprehensible galaxy spread across 12 separate documents. Mozilla asked the companies about encryption of the data, and only one of the brands, Mercedes, even responded. Jen C. Ridder of Milla was stunned by the findings and would conclude, All new cars today are privacy nightmares on wheels that collect huge amounts of personal information. It's pretty insane already, but it goes deeper. In March of 2024, the New York Times released a bombshell investigation of how car companies are selling driver data to insurance companies. Data such as where they're driving, how fast they're going, how hard they accelerate, and step on the brakes—pretty much everything. The companies involved include General Motors (or GM), Honda, Mitsubishi, Kia, Ford, Hyundai, and Subaru—all to varying degrees, as you'll soon see. The knee-jerk argument is that this is being done for the safety and benefit of drivers. Car manufacturers will always try to hammer this point home, and at a

stretch if you squint your eyes, perhaps you could see it that way. But if we're being real, it turns out that these car companies are making millions of selling your driver data to brokers and onto insurance companies. Your insurance premium could start skyrocketing, and you have no idea why. The last thing you'd expect is that your humble car was snitching on you to a large corporation. The New York Times gave an example of Ken Dal, a 65-year-old careful driver who had never been responsible for an accident. Suddenly, in 2022, he got a rude shock when his car insurance cost jumped by 21%. After shopping around, he realized something strange: other car insurance packages were suddenly unusually high for him too. Wondering what was going on, he asked an insurance agent, and he told him the real answer: he'd got in a bad report from Lexus Nexus. Now, who the heck is that? Well, they're one of those third-party data breakers. And where did Lexus Nexus get the data from? From General Motors, who made Mr. D's Chevy.

bolt he dug a bit deeper and got his hands on the actual report from Nexus Lexus. It was over 130 pages long, detailing every move that he and his wife had made, 640 trips. It included when he was speeding, brake sharply, or accelerated sharply, the time they set off for a trip, and the time the trip concluded. Mr. D will tell the New York Times, quote, It felt like a betrayal, the taking information that I didn't realize was going to be shared and screwing without insurance, end quote. Hundreds of pages, hundreds of pages. This is my Lexus Nexus consumer disclosure report. I'm appalled. Hundreds of pages of data on Tama Clay's Lexus Nexus credit report from her Chevy Camaro and GM shared 63 of those entries with data brokers. So the pipeline is this: the raw data from your car is collected, sold to data brokers who analyze it, and then send it to your insurance company, all without you having a clue. Some car companies do sell the information directly, and some do have opt-in clauses.

but many don't and are on by default without the driver's knowing. Furthermore, these drivers aren't aware that their data is being shared with third parties. Even for those drivers who opt in on data collection to improve their driving, they innocently think it's going to help them become a better driver. There's still no obvious indication that this data is going to third parties. A lot of the time, it's hidden behind the fine print of legal jargon. For sports car enthusiasts, it's a nightmare. The same New York Times report shines a light on one Corvette owner. He took his car out for a spin on a professional racetrack. His car's data was then filled with rapid acceleration events, potentially ruining his car insurance score. Another Cadillac owner had had enough after he was denied car insurance by seven companies. And of course, his Lexis Nexus report was to blame. Quote, I don't know the definition of heartbreak. My passenger's head isn't hitting the dash. Same with acceleration. I'm not peeling out. I'm not sure how the car

defines that I don't feel I'm driving aggressively or dangerously. End quote. He finally did get car insurance, but for twice the price. He wanted to keep his name anonymous because he had plans to sue GM. KIA, Subaru, and Mitsubishi also shared data with Lexus Nexus, who has now collected data from over 10 million cars. Ford, Honda, and Hyundai are also selling driver data, but to another data broker called V risk. Subaru states that it only shares odometer data. According to the New York Times, Ford denies the claims, saying it was only partnering with Lexus Nexus to quote explore ways to support consumers. They go on to state that they send driver data directly to insurance companies only with explicit consent. Kia, Mitsubishi, Hyundai, Honda, and Acura all have driving feedback apps where drivers can opt in to monitor how well they're performing on the road. But what drivers may not know is that this data is getting passed onto, you guessed it, either Lexus Nexus or V risk. So once again, insurance can potentially be affected as a result of their driving.

habits without them necessarily knowing. Toyota is no angel in all of this. Rafi Alam from the Australian consumer advocacy group Choice states, When we looked at Toyota's privacy policy, we found that these connected service features will collect data such as fuel levels, odometer readings, vehicle location, and driving data, as well as personal information like phone numbers and email addresses. And all of this isn't to mention the risks of data breaches. Unfortunately, it's just a sign of the times. Data-collecting technology is becoming ever more common in newer cars, and much of this can't be opted out of. Most new cars today will have some kind of location tracking technology included, but does it have to be this way? Critics argue that these data collection practices are non-transparent. Hidden clauses in massive, complicated contracts aren't good enough. California's privacy regulator, Senator Edward Mar, has called for investigations into these data practices. He questions whether this violates consumer protection laws. The Internet of Things is really intruding into the lives of all Americans. If there is now a collusion between automakers

and insurance companies using data from an unknowing car owner that raises their insurance rates. That's from my perspective a potential per se violation of section five of the Federal Trade Commission act. End quote. The Federal Trade Commission Act is a federal law that protects the public against unfair and deceptive business practices. Overall, the intersection of connected Car Technology and insurance rates poses important questions about transparency and consumer rights. Our cars can't just be spying on us without our knowledge and writing it all in the fine print hidden Within Walls of legal jargon isn't good enough either. It should be clear that there's a need for more robust consumer protections to ensure that drivers are fully aware of what data has been collected, how that data is being used, and how it can Impact Insurance costs. To be fair, driver data can be used for good things such as faster emergency response times and predictive maintenance, but the potential for abuse is massive. We need to stop and think, do these benefits outweigh the risks? When it comes down to it, we've been driving cars that have been offline.

for over a century, with very little issue as a society. We're only just beginning to grapple with how important our personal data is. The fact that data harvesting has made its way into the auto industry should be enough to give anyone pause. I think it's about time we started giving control back to consumers. Now, there are no federal laws requiring that automakers have privacy protections for their owners or cybersecurity protections on their vehicles. But the question is, is what have consumers opted into? Do they understand what's being collected about them? And then, who is the arbiter of accuracy? Because anybody can drive your car. You can loan your car out to other people. We also need the opportunity as consumers to opt into that and to say, I give you permission to monetize my data, and here's how I give you permission to use it. To close things off, let's go back to the Toyota scandal at the beginning of this episode, denying a fire claim because the driver at some point during the history of his

ownership of the car exceeded 85 mph seems absurd. Should the owner have been driving an excess of 85 mph? Probably not, but punishing him for it in the most Orwellian way possible? That seems a bit much. But I know there'll be people out there that say spying on drivers like this ultimately keeps people safe, but I think in reality companies are just trying to find increasingly clever ways to make money. But what do you guys think? I'd love to hear your thoughts below. Cars spying on us obviously isn't great, but what if you wanted to learn something more positive, such as the latest trends in the automotive industry? Well, fortunately, there's a fun and easy way to learn about that with brilliant.org. Brilliant is where you learn by doing, with thousands of interactive lessons in maths, science, data analytics, programming, and AI. They have a course on maximizing electric vehicle value, where you can dig into and explore all the latest data and trends in the EV space. Each lesson on Brilliant allows you to play with concepts, a method proven to be six times more

effective than watching lecture videos. Plus, all content on Brilliant is crafted by teachers, researchers, and professionals from MIT, Caltech, Duke, Microsoft, Google, and more. Learn at your own pace to brush up on a project for work or just for your own self-development and curiosity. To try everything Brilliant has to offer for a full 30 days, visit brilliant.org/coldfusion. You'll also get 20% off an annual premium subscription. Anyway, that's about it from me. If you did like this episode, feel free to subscribe to Cold Fusion. There's plenty of interesting stuff on here. So, my name is Toogo, and you have been watching Cold Fusion, and I'll catch you again soon for the next episode. Cheers, guys. Have a good one. [Music] [Music] Cold Fusion. It's new thinking.

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