Connected vehicle telematics and domestic abuse

Connected vehicle telematics and domestic abuse is the use of a car's manufacturer-run tracking and remote-control apps as a tool for stalking and control: whoever holds the connected-vehicle-service account can view the car's live location and send it remote commands, and when that account holder is an abuser and the driver is a partner trying to leave, the app becomes a means of surveillance. In 2020, car makers funded a committee that raised more than $26 million to oppose a Massachusetts right-to-repair ballot measure, airing television advertisements that warned a "sexual predator" could use vehicle data to stalk victims. California's SB 1394, enacted in 2024, requires manufacturers to cut off a person's remote access within two business days of a qualifying request; in June 2026 the Alliance for Automotive Innovation warned that California car sales faced "substantial risk" of suspension unless the compliance deadline was pushed back, and Governor Gavin Newsom signed the delay bill, SB 719, into law on June 30, 2026.

Telematics as a tool for stalking and control

Connected-vehicle services let a person outside a car view or track its location and send commands to it through a manufacturer's mobile app. SB 1394 defines "connected vehicle location access" as a service that lets a person outside the vehicle view or track its location, and "connected vehicle service" as any capability that lets a person remotely obtain data from, or send commands to, a vehicle. The California Legislature's findings for that law describe abusive partners tracking, surveilling, and intimidating survivors through location-tracking and remote-control functions, including turning on the ignition, adjusting the vehicle's climate, locking doors, turning off electric charging, honking the horn, & recording video footage and audio.

Federal law had addressed a related problem for phones. The Safe Connections Act of 2022 requires telecommunications providers to separate a survivor's mobile account from an abuser's account, but the California findings noted that it does not extend to vehicular technology.

A December 31, 2023 investigation by New York Times reporter Kashmir Hill documented these apps being used by abusive partners & reported that car manufacturers had been slow to respond, according to victims & experts.

The Dowdall case

The Times account centered on Christine Dowdall, who fled her home in Covington, Louisiana in September 2022 in her Mercedes-Benz C300 after a violent fight with her husband, a Drug Enforcement Administration agent. She began seeing messages on the car's display for a location service called "mbrace", part of the Mercedes me connected-services app, and realized her husband was using it to track her. Dowdall had used the app only to make auto loan payments and had not known it could also track the car.

Dowdall had a restraining order against her husband and had been granted sole use of the car during divorce proceedings, but the loan and title were in his name, and Mercedes representatives told her that her husband was the customer, so he would be able to keep his access. There was no button she could press to sever the app's connection to the vehicle. One representative told her, "This is not the first time that I've heard something like this."

The 2020 Massachusetts right-to-repair campaign

On November 3, 2020, Massachusetts voters passed Question 1, a ballot measure expanding access to the mechanical and telematics data that vehicles transmit wirelessly, beginning with the 2022 model year. Opponents, largely car makers, funded a committee called the Coalition for Safe and Secure Data, which raised more than $26 million and aired television advertisements claiming criminals could exploit the measure to harm drivers. One of the advertisements, voiced by a female narrator, said:

Domestic violence advocates say a sexual predator could use the data to stalk their victims.

WBUR reported that the car-maker-funded Coalition for Safe and Secure Data raised more than $26 million and aired TV ads, one claiming a "sexual predator could use the data to stalk their victims."

WBUR reported that the claim was misleading. The advocates cited in the advertisement had spoken out not against Question 1 but against a 2014 California bill, which did not pass & which would have expanded access to a wide range of vehicle data, including location information. The Massachusetts measure, by contrast, applied to "mechanical data related to vehicle maintenance and repair."

Louis Rossmann, a repair advocate who took part in the right-to-repair campaign, argued in an August 27, 2020 video that manufacturers' own connected apps, such as OnStar, already let a co-owner track a partner's vehicle.

California's SB 1394

SB 1394, authored by Senators Min and Ashby and Assemblymember Weber, was approved by the Governor on September 27, 2024 as Chapter 655 of the Statutes of 2024, adding Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 28200) to Division 12 of the Vehicle Code. The law directs a covered provider, meaning a vehicle manufacturer or an entity acting for it, to act on a driver's request to terminate another person's access:

A covered provider shall terminate a person's access to connected vehicle service within two business days after the date of receiving a completed request from a driver who meets the requirements of this section.

Section 28224 of the California Vehicle Code, added by SB 1394, requires a covered provider to "terminate a person's access to connected vehicle service within two business days" of a completed request from a qualifying driver.

To exercise that right, a driver must supply the vehicle identification number & proof of legal possession, such as the title or a court order. The statute makes a court order outrank a joint title:

A court order awarding sole possession or exclusive use of a vehicle shall take priority over a vehicle title showing joint ownership for purposes of this article.

A covered provider may not charge a fee for the change or require the named account holder's approval. Beyond the account process, SB 1394 requires manufacturers to build an in-vehicle mechanism that a driver inside the car can use to immediately disable location access, without the account holder receiving any notification. The account-termination process took effect on July 1, 2025, while the in-vehicle disabling mechanism had been scheduled to apply from July 1, 2026 to vehicles built before 2028 that could receive software updates, and from January 1, 2028 to newer vehicles.

SB 719 and the 2026 sales-suspension warning

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, the trade group that represents General Motors, Toyota, Volkswagen, & most major automakers selling vehicles in the United States, was formed in 2020 by merging two automobile trade associations, Global Automakers & the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.

On June 23, 2026, the Alliance urged the Legislature and Governor Gavin Newsom to enact SB 719 before what it called a technically unworkable requirement took effect on July 1, warning that vehicle sales could be suspended. Curt Augustine, the group's senior director of state affairs, said:

Without SB 719 being signed into law before July 1, there is substantial risk that auto sales in California will be suspended.

Curt Augustine, senior director of state affairs at the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, warned that "there is substantial risk that auto sales in California will be suspended" without SB 719.

Augustine said automakers were already implementing SB 1394's protections but that "compliance with some elements of the law is impossible this year." The group said the online termination process & its two-business-day deadline were already in effect, and that its objection was to the in-vehicle disabling mechanism, which it said required engineering & testing across many makes, models, & model years. The Auto Wire reported on June 28, 2026 that the Alliance had warned car companies might be forced to suspend sales of both new & used vehicles in California starting July 1 unless lawmakers delayed the deadline, in a state that sells roughly two million vehicles a year.

SB 719, authored by Senator Cabaldon, was approved by the Governor on June 30, 2026 as Chapter 53 of the Statutes of 2026, one day before the deadline, and took effect immediately as an urgency statute. The law moves the in-vehicle disabling deadline to on or before July 1, 2027 for model year 2027 and older vehicles, unless implementation is technologically infeasible, and phases in newer model years through the 2031 model year. Its stated urgency was to give automakers "sufficient time to carefully and safely redesign and update automobiles" to provide the technology required by SB 1394. SB 719 did not change the two-business-day account-termination duty already in effect. The bill had unanimous legislative support but faced last-minute opposition that the Alliance attributed to the Consumer Federation of California.

The California Legislature's history for SB 719 records that on June 30, 2026 the bill was "Approved by the Governor" and "Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 53, Statutes of 2026."

FTC order against GM and OnStar

On January 14, 2026, the Federal Trade Commission finalized an order against General Motors and OnStar over its OnStar Smart Driver feature. The FTC alleged that GM used a misleading enrollment process to sign consumers up for its connected vehicle service & that it collected precise geolocation & driving-behavior data from millions of vehicles and sold it to third parties without consumers' informed consent. The order imposes a five-year ban on GM disclosing that geolocation & driver-behavior data to consumer reporting agencies and, for the 20-year life of the order, requires GM to obtain affirmative express consent before collecting, using, or sharing connected vehicle data.

The Federal Trade Commission announced its finalized order against General Motors and OnStar on January 14, 2026, headlined "FTC Finalizes Order Settling Allegations that GM and OnStar Collected and Sold Geolocation Data Without Consumers' Informed Consent."

Federal legislation

A federal counterpart, the Safe Vehicle Access for Survivors Act (H.R. 2110), was introduced in the House on March 14, 2025 during the 119th Congress and remains at the introduced stage. It would require connected-vehicle-service providers to terminate or disable an identified abuser's access within two business days of a survivor's request, & would direct the Federal Communications Commission to write implementing regulations. Its sponsors include Representatives Debbie Dingell of Michigan and Dan Crenshaw of Texas, and the Alliance for Automotive Innovation has said it supports the bill.