Florida man sues Toyota and Progressive over data tracking and privacy concerns
Your car is thousands of times more advanced than the vehicles of yesteryear. However, that also means your vehicle could be collecting and tracking data about your driving behaviors. Now, a Florida man has launched a federal class action lawsuit, claiming that Toyota and several of its partners are tracking data while “the consumer is unaware.”
A Florida man filed a class action lawsuit against Toyota, Progressive, and Connected Analytic Services for data tracking
Philip Siefke is about sick of his car collecting data on him. So much so that he contacted Morgan and Morgan to file a class action lawsuit at the federal level against Toyota, Progressive Insurance, and Connected Analytic Services. Siefke’s lawsuit asserts that his vehicle collected data without his knowledge. It alleges that the Florida man’s driving “was monitored and his data sold to his insurance company without his consent.”
A serious allegation, without doubt. But not unheard of. Just last year, General Motors (GM) stuck a fork in its own similar program. GM would sell consumer driver data to insurance providers via third-party brokers. However, GM killed the program after customers condemned the automaking titan in the court of public opinion.
Toyota has reportedly been collecting and tracking driver data with its current program since 2022, per WPTV. Originally, and not unlike other industry programs, it was billed as a way for drivers to save money on insurance by driving safely.
But the Florida man has had his fill and reached out to a major law firm to file a lawsuit to that effect. “The problem with the premise is that the consumer is unaware it is happening. The automobile doesn’t know who is driving the vehicle,” Morgan and Morgan attorney John Yanchunis said of the lawsuit.
“Data is money. I know every company under the sun, from toy manufacturers to the grocery store, wants to know everything about you,” said Alan Crowetz, a cybersecurity expert and head of InfoStream, Inc. Unfortunately, insurance-related data, as you might imagine, can have the opposite impact. Telematics-based “usage-based insurance” (UBI) programs can raise your premiums if you don’t drive to the standard.
