My Toyota RAV4 Has Been Tracking My Driving Habits For Years Without Me Knowing and Without My Consent. Toyota and Progressive Insurance Knew About It

Are the Toyota RAV4 and other new models snitching on your driving habits?

According to a report from WPTV in Palm Beach, Florida, Philip Siefke says Progressive Insurance has spied on him with Toyota Motors' consent without his knowledge, and he did not give his consent. 

Now, he is suing Toyota, Progressive Insurance, and Connected Analytic Services.  

In a new class-action lawsuit, Philip told his attorney, John Yanchunis of Morgan and Morgan,

"I just found out my 2021 Toyota RAV4 has been tracking my driving habits for four years without my knowledge. I need you to represent me because I did not give my consent."  

How Did Philip Find Out He Was Being Watched? 

He says, "When I went to renew my policy in January of this year, Progressive Insurance told me they already had my driving history. That's when I knew something was wrong." 

He called Progressive Insurance, and they told him the information was available to them because he had signed an agreement with Toyota Motor when he purchased his 2021 Toyota RAV4.

Philip then called Toyota, who told him that he had signed up for a "trial program" to share driving data with third-party companies.

However, he says no one informed him about the built-in "telemetry" tracking device in his 2021 RAV4 that monitors a driver's driving habits, as per the court documents.

"The problem with the premise is the consumer is unaware it is happening," said attorney John Yanchunis of Morgan and Morgan, who is representing Philip Siefke. "The automobile doesn't know who is driving the vehicle."

"Data is money," cybersecurity expert Alan Crowetz, the president and CEO of InfoStream, Inc., said. "Like the business I'm in, I know every company under the sun, from toy manufacturers to the grocery store, want to know everything about you."

A report from Consumer Reports says, "Many people don't know that this data is being amassed—much less where it goes or how it's used. General Motors was penalized in January for allegedly using its Smart Driver program to collect and sell its customers' driving data without their knowledge or permission."

Nearly All Automakers are Selling Your Data

Consumer Reports found that nearly every automaker that sells cars in the U.S. is similarly collecting and sharing so-called "driver behavior data" with other companies and continues to do so.

CR says, "The end result is that your driving data often winds up in the hands of multiple companies and can be used to influence the insurance premiums and auto loan terms you're offered online."

A recent report from the New York Times reveals that car companies use data they recover from your vehicle to give it to insurance companies. The insurance companies can then raise or lower your rates depending on your good or poor driving habits. 

The report says that automakers and data brokers that have partnered to collect detailed driving data from millions of Americans say they have drivers' permission to do so.

You May Have Given Your Consent

The NY Times report says that sometimes, data collection and monitoring of driving habits happens with a driver's awareness and consent. Automakers have established relationships with insurance companies so that if drivers want to sign up for what's called usage-based insurance," where rates are set based on monitoring their driving habits, it is easy to collect that data wirelessly from their cars.

Your Car Could Be Spying On You Without You Knowing It.

But in other instances, something much sneakier has happened. Modern cars are internet-enabled, allowing access to services like navigation, roadside assistance, and car apps that drivers can connect to their vehicles to locate or unlock remotely.

What Does Progressive Insurance Say?

According to Progressive Insurance, your driving behavior is typically measured using a plug-in device or a mobile app for months. After your UBI program concludes, your insurance company will consider the data when calculating your premium. 

The guidelines and level of savings will vary by insurer. While your rate could be substantially discounted based on the results of your UBI program, your policy's premium may increase.

If your data shared is driving-based, your driving habits are measured based on factors like:

• driving tendencies 
• including hard-braking 
• rapid acceleration 
• speed 
• distracted driving
• how quickly you take turns on the road
• the time of day you drive

Telematics can then transmit data on your driving habits from your moving vehicle and share it with an information center.

How Can You Opt Out of Sharing and Delete Your Driver Behavior Data?

Consumer Reports Says there are three types of requests and how to submit them:

Right to Limit the Use and Disclosure of My Sensitive Personal Information

This is a request to limit the use of your sensitive personal information—say, your driver's license number, precise geolocation data, and biometric data, such as fingerprints and iris eye scans, to name a few—only in "necessary" or "reasonably expected" situations—for example, in response to a search warrant or subpoena from a law enforcement agency.

Right to Opt Out

This request is to stop selling or sharing your personal info and data with any third-party company. This request covers both the initial recipient of your data—the automaker—and the companies they share and sell the data to, including data brokers and insurance companies.

Right to Delete

This is a request to have your personal info and data "permanently and completely" deleted by the automaker, any service provider, third-party companies, and contractors. There are some exemptions under federal and state laws, such as tax records and ownership info. 

There are two good ways to go about filling out and submitting these requests:

Fill out an online form. 

Each automaker has its own privacy pages to submit these requests, and they differ slightly. We'll use Subaru's online privacy portal as an example. After filling out the required fields for name, home address, email address, and phone number, and an optional field for your car's 17-digit VIN number, you select the specific privacy request(s) you want to make. You can read the description of each request type by clicking on the box on the left.

Change your privacy settings through a connected mobile app. 

Many digitally connected vehicles have synced mobile apps that control a customer's data privacy settings. For example, Toyota and Lexus customers can log into the mobile app, select the person icon in the top right corner, select "Account," select "Data Privacy Portal," and select the vehicle they want to change the settings.

This allows you to opt out of having your data collected and shared, but it doesn't delete the data. Other mobile apps allow you to turn off location sharing. For example, in Mitsubishi's RoadAssist+ app, users go to the app's settings menu and turn off the toggle switch for "Trip Recording."

IT'S YOUR TURN

Are you concerned that your Toyota RAV4 is sharing your driving habits? If so, click the red Add New Comment link below and let us know.

Check out my 2025 Toyota RAV4 story: Price Is Right Car Winner Says, “I Didn’t Want the Nissan Versa, So I Traded It For A Toyota RAV4, But Now My 'Free' Car Comes With A $400 a Month Payment”

I am Denis Flierl, a Senior Torque News Reporter since 2012. My 30+ year tenure in the automotive industry, initially in a consulting role with every major car brand and later as a freelance journalist test-driving new vehicles, has equipped me with a wealth of knowledge. I specialize in reporting the latest automotive news and providing expert analysis on Subaru, which you'll find here, ensuring that you, as a reader, are always well-informed and up-to-date. Follow me on my X SubaruReport, All Subaru, WRXSTI, @DenisFlierl, Facebook, and Instagram.

Photo credit: Denis Flierl