{
  "id": 13933109,
  "title": "These Popular Cars Were Exposing Your Sensitive Data With Companion Apps",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/12/these-popular-cars-were-exposing-your-sensitive-data-with-companion",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-10-12T09:53:09.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "ProPakistani",
    "slug": "propakistani",
    "url": "https://propakistani.pk/2026/10/12/these-popular-cars-were-exposing-your-sensitive-data-with-companion-apps/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Automotive manufacturers have been transmitting sensitive data about their customers through companion apps, according to a recent study. Major car brands such as GM, Honda, Nissan, and others were found to send identifiers like Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs), email addresses, and precise location data to advertising and analytics companies. Northeastern University researchers examined 21 late-model vehicles and 30 automaker apps from October 2024 to August 2025. Honda was the first to respond to the researchers, stating it had taken action by requesting Amplitude to delete the location data it had received and updating HondaLink to no longer transmit it. Other automakers largely defended their practices, citing contractual restrictions on how vendors can utilize the information. The study detected seven apps transmitting identifiers to advertising or analytics firms, with four of them belonging to General Motors: myCadillac, myChevrolet, myBuick, and myGMC. Each of these GM apps sent vehicle identifiers to 10 companies, including Microsoft and Adobe. HondaLink was also identified as sending both VIN and location data to the analytics company Amplitude. Researchers emphasized that VINs are considerably more sensitive than advertising identifiers because they cannot be easily changed and, when combined with personal information like email addresses, can potentially link a specific vehicle owner to activity across various apps and websites. While some cars did not expose users to third-party domains directly, their companion apps still connected to numerous companies. For instance, the Buick Envista and Nissan Ariya contacted no ad or tracking domains directly from the vehicle but their associated apps connected to 23 and 25 companies, respectively. Tesla, on the other hand, transmitted data from the vehicle itself, contacting 22 advertising or tracking companies, while its app added two more. The study found that 28 of the 30 apps tested connected to at least one advertising or analytics company, with 14 automakers responding to the researchers, all stating that the observed data flows were consistent with existing vendor agreements.",
  "summary": "Popular cars have been sending sensitive information about their customers via invasive companion apps. Some major names on the list … Read More The post These Popular Cars Were Exposing Your Sensitive Data With Companion Apps appeared first on ProPakistani .",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}