Hyundai and Kia face a class action lawsuit over allegations that they secretly sold personal information, such as driving habits and driving data, collected through their smart connection applications without the vehicle owners' consent. The lawsuit claims that insurance companies used this information, including data on acceleration and sudden braking, to increase the insurance premiums for the affected drivers.

According to federal court documents, Mark Will, a Hyundai owner residing in Illinois, filed the class action lawsuit against Hyundai and Kia, alleging that he suffered damages due to their actions. Will recently submitted a complaint to the Central District Court of California on July 29, claiming that Hyundai and Kia shared detailed information from the driving data applications with the data trading company Verisk Analytics, which then passed this information to insurance companies. Consequently, this data was used to calculate individual insurance premiums.

The Keller Rohrback law firm, based in Santa Barbara, representing the plaintiff, stated that Mark Will purchased a new Hyundai Santa Fe in 2019. Between December 2023 and April 2024, Hyundai allegedly shared data related to his driving habits with Verisk, which then sold this information to insurance companies, resulting in a $250 increase in Will’s insurance premium.

The plaintiffs argue that Hyundai's ‘Bluelink’ and ‘Bluelink+’, along with Kia's ‘Kia Connect’—smart connection applications commonly referred to as ‘connected cars’—are primarily intended to provide emergency services and promote safe driving. However, Hyundai and Kia are accused of sharing this data with a data trading company without the vehicle owners' consent, infringing on drivers' privacy and causing economic harm such as increased insurance premiums.

The defendants in this class action lawsuit include Hyundai and Kia's headquarters in Korea, their US subsidiaries Hyundai Motor America and Kia America, and Verisk Analytics. The plaintiffs are requesting a jury trial and seeking compensation for actual and punitive damages. They are also asking the court to issue an injunction preventing Hyundai and Kia from sharing driving-related information with data companies.

In relation to this, the New York Times (NYT) reported in early March that Hyundai, Kia, and other car manufacturers earn millions of dollars annually by trading customer driving data with car insurance companies, highlighting this issue.

The NYT reported that various driving information, such as hard braking or rapid acceleration, was secretly traded from car manufacturers, including GM, Hyundai, Kia, Mitsubishi, Honda, and Acura, to car insurance companies, with most customers unaware that their data was being collected.

According to the newspaper, some vehicle owners experienced increased insurance premiums or even faced rejection of insurance policies due to driving habits like speeding or sudden braking. Insurance companies cited the driving habit data collected through smart connection applications as the basis for these actions.

In response to the raised concerns, GM, which provides the ‘OnStar’ smart connection application service, announced in late March that it would be the first car manufacturer to terminate its data trading contracts with Verisk and LexisNexis.

At the time, GM spokesperson Kevin Kelly stated, “As of March 20, OnStar Smart Driver customer data will no longer be shared with LexisNexis and Verisk,” adding, “Customer trust is our top priority, and we actively comply with our policies related to customer personal information.”

<Reporter Sehee Roh>