Rafi Alam from CHOICE told The World Today: “When we looked at Toyota’s privacy policy, we found that these Connected Services features will collect data such as fuel levels, odometer readings, vehicle location and driving data, as well as personal information like phone numbers and email addresses.”
The program’s policy document says Toyota collects data for various purposes if drivers don’t opt out — including for safety, security, research, product development and data analysis — but the company may also share it with third parties such as finance and insurance companies, debt collection agencies and market research organisations.
In 2023, the Mozilla Foundation reviewed the privacy standards of 25 major car brands, including Toyota. All 25 received failing marks for consumer privacy.
The report found brands such as BMW, Ford, Toyota, Tesla, Kia, and Subaru could “collect deeply personal data such as sexual activity, immigration status, race, facial expressions, weight, health and genetic information, and where you drive”, which they could potentially sell to third parties.
Nissan was accused of being “the very worst offender”, while Toyota was found to have “a near-incomprehensible galaxy of 12 privacy policy documents”.
Can you trust them with everything about what you do in the car, what you say in the car, who’s in the car, where it goes, your connections to every other online data service?
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Dr Katharine Kemp, from the Faculty of Law & Justice at the University of New South Wales, says cars can collect information through features like their cameras, sensors and internet-connected systems, but also from drivers’ mobile devices and their dealings with related third parties.
The program’s policy document says Toyota collects data for various purposes if drivers don’t opt out — including for safety, security, research, product development and data analysis — but the company may also share it with third parties such as finance and insurance companies, debt collection agencies and market research organisations.
“The more I looked into it, the way that Toyota can log into your car remotely, keep a record of all sorts of bits and pieces, and possibly share your driving behaviour with your insurance company — I just thought the whole lot outweighed the benefits,” he said.
In a statement to ABC News, the company said customers could opt out of Connected Services, but that doing so would disable other features including Bluetooth and speaker functionality.
The report found brands such as BMW, Ford, Toyota, Tesla, Kia, and Subaru could “collect deeply personal data such as sexual activity, immigration status, race, facial expressions, weight, health and genetic information, and where you drive”, which they could potentially sell to third parties.
CHOICE’s Mr Alam told the ABC’s RN Drive that consumers should be able to have modern connectivity features without car companies sharing their information with third parties.
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