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The report analyzed traffic from 21 vehicles and 30 automaker apps
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Pinterest probably doesn't need your car's VIN, but General Motors' apps were sending it there anyway, and to Snap, Yahoo, Meta, Google and the data broker Acxiom.
Key facts
- The Buick Envista and Nissan Ariya were among them, yet pairing their apps exposed owners to 23 and 25 ad and tracking companies respectively
- According to Consumer Reports' per-vehicle summary, 10 of the 21 cars contacted no advertising or tracking domains on their own
- Meanwhile, 28 of the 30 apps contacted at least one advertising or analytics company, according to Consumer Reports
- The report analyzed traffic from 21 vehicles and 30 automaker apps
Summary
Nineteen of those cars sent data to at least one third-party company via Wi-Fi, with seven of the apps passing identifiers like VINs, email addresses and precise locations to advertising and analytics companies. Those four GM apps are myCadillac, myChevrolet, myBuick and myGMC, and each sent VINs to 10 companies including Microsoft and Adobe. According to Consumer Reports' per-vehicle summary, 10 of the 21 cars contacted no advertising or tracking domains on their own. The Buick Envista and Nissan Ariya were among them, yet pairing their apps exposed owners to 23 and 25 ad and tracking companies respectively. Back in January, the FTC finalized GM's punishment over its driver data sharing scandal.