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Senators: Car Companies Are Giving Location Data to Police Without a Warrant

The Democratic senators call on the FTC to investigate eight automakers for handing over users' location data with only a subpoena rather than a court-issued warrant.

publicized the finding in a Tuesday letter that urges the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the car makers: BMW, Kia, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Subaru, Toyota, and Volkswagen. In 2014, the auto industry pledged to uphold privacy principles, which included only handing over such sensitive location data to law enforcement when a warrant or court-issued order was provided. However, an investigation from Wyden and Markey finds that only six car companies—Ford, GM, Honda, Stellantis, Tesla, and (to a lesser extent) Hyundai— require police to submit a warrant when requesting users' location data.

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