Utah gets $6.9 million from GM driver-data settlement and joins a suit against Toast

Utah will receive $6,938,619 from a $220 million settlement that 36 attorneys general reached with General Motors over claims it sold drivers' driving behavior and location data without their consent, Attorney General Derek Brown's office said Thursday. Utah's Division of Consumer Protection joined the case. ^[1]

The states say GM's Smart Driver program, which ran from 2016 to 2024, tracked trip times, hard braking, acceleration and speeding, and that GM sold the data to brokers who passed it to insurance companies that used it in part to set rates. Most drivers were signed up at dealerships in the same process as OnStar, and in many cases employees accepted the terms for customers, the states say. ^[1] The settlement requires GM to get drivers' express consent before collecting or sharing that data. ^[1]

"Your driving data tells the story of your life," Brown said. "That story belongs to you." ^[1]

The same day, Utah joined the Federal Trade Commission, six other states, Los Angeles County and San Francisco in suing Toast Inc., which sells point-of-sale systems and payment processing to restaurants. ^[2] The complaint says Toast advertised "$0" hardware that was not priced at $0 and "24/7/365" support that customers often could not reach, charged fees it did not clearly disclose, including early termination fees that can reach $5,000 to $17,000, and delayed cancellations for months while billing customers. Utah brings its claims under the state Truth in Advertising Act, and the claims are allegations a court will decide. ^[2]