Consumers being driven to a place of mistrust: a warning for all brands (and why I’ll never buy a Tesla).

Consumer advocacy group Choice revealed this week that popular car manufacturers are collecting and sharing driver data, ranging from braking patterns and odometer readings to vehicle location and even voice recognition information, images and videos.

Choice analysed the privacy policies of the 10 most popular car brands in Australia to identify which manufacturers tracked their drivers and passengers and exactly what kind of data they’re collecting and harvesting.

As new car features include microphones, sensors, cameras and other internet-connected features as standard, cars that are rolling off the lot and into driveways and garages across Australia are fast becoming all-seeing and all-hearing.

And most vehicle owners have no idea they are essentially driving a smartphone on wheels.

According to Choice investigative reporter Jarni Blakkarly, many car makers are deliberately vague about their finely printed privacy policies and how data is collected and treated.?

‘We found that seven out of 10 car brands contain concerning privacy policies that allow them to track driver data and driving habits and sell that data to third parties’, he said.

According to Blakkarly, Hyundai, Kia and Tesla were the worst offenders.

Kia and Hyundai, owned by the same parent company, collect voice recognition data from inside their cars and sell that data to the AI software training company Credence, the investigation found.

The report also found that Tesla collects images and videos from cameras inside and outside their cars.

According to Mr Blakkarly, the way Tesla’s privacy policy is worded is incredibly vague and essentially allows sharing of data, including images and video.

This follows an investigation by Reuters in the United States, which revealed that Tesla workers shared sensitive images and videos from Tesla owners in private chat groups, including drivers in embarrassing situations, car crashes and road rage incidents.

These findings raise serious concerns about brand trust in the automotive sector, given Australian consumers say they don’t fully understand how companies – including data brokers – track, target and profile them.?

Research by the Consumer Policy Research Centre and UNSW Sydney earlier this year revealed that 70% of Australians feel they have little or no control over how their data is disclosed between companies. Many expressed anger, frustration, confusion and mistrust.

Data privacy and how consumer information is handled is set to become a much greater consideration in brand trust and the customer experience.?

And while it is up to consumers to be aware of how our data is harvested — check the privacy settings on your vehicle app if you have one — brands that hide their data collection practices behind borderline deceptive privacy policies buried in fine print is not how to build brand loyalty.?