The Blubber

Drivers of cars manufactured by General Motors, $GM, Ford, $F, Honda and other popular brands are secretly spying on their drivers and driving insurance rates through the roof, per NYP.

The LexisNexis report indicated that the information it had gathered was derived from the OnStar Smart Driver, a GM-owned subscription service that tracks driver data such as total miles driven, incidents of hard braking, and other aspects of driver behavior.

According to its website, OnStar Smart Driver "provides driving insights on how you can become a smarter, safer driver" and allows users to "earn badges by completing challenges, build on streaks specific to different driving habits, and view all your data in an intuitive dashboard."

A Ford spokesperson informed the Times that the company "does not transmit any connected vehicle data to either partner," referring to Verisk and LexisNexis.

Ford only shares driver behavior data with an insurance company if the driver explicitly consents via an in-vehicle touch screen, according to a company representative.

Kia, Mitsubishi, Hyundai, Honda, and Acura offer drivers the option to disable data collection related to on-road behavior in their apps.

However, Honda requires drivers to accept a 2,000-word "terms and conditions" screen on its app that specifies the company will share data with Verisk.

"GM's OnStar Smart Driver service is optional for customers, who give their consent three times before limited data is shared with an insurance carrier through a third party," a GM spokesperson told The Post.

"Customer benefits include learning more about their safe driving behaviors or vehicle performance that, with their consent, may be used to obtain insurance quotes," the spokesperson added, noting: "Customers can also unenroll from Smart Driver at any time."

A LexisNexis spokesperson informed the Times that the data received from OnStar is "used by insurers as one factor among many to create more personalized insurance coverage."