What data does your car collect — and what did Ford just promise about it?

Ford launched a public privacy promise explaining how and why it uses customer vehicle data. What connected cars typically collect — location, driving behaviour, voice, paired-phone data — and the settings steps any driver can use today.

Short answer: your connected car likely collects far more than you think — and on November 2, 2026, Ford publicly launched a “privacy promise”: a plain-language explanation of how and why it uses customer vehicle data, with an explicit commitment that customers’ vehicle data is safe with the company.What modern connected cars typically collect: location and trip history; driving behaviour such as speed and braking; voice recordings from in-car assistants; vehicle health readings; and data from a paired phone, including contacts and media. Some of this powers features you want — navigation, remote start, maintenance alerts — but the same streams can also feed product research and, at some companies, third-party data sharing.Why Ford’s move matters: a public promise gives owners something concrete to hold the company to, and Ford pairs it with guidance on changing your settings. TechCrunch reports Ford says it does not share how customers drive with data brokers — the kind of line worth checking on your own car, whatever its badge.Take control, step by step:1.

Find the privacy settings. In your car’s menus, look for Data Sharing, Telematics or Connected Services — every brand buries them somewhere different.2. Turn off sharing you do not need, such as marketing uses or driving-score programmes, while keeping safety features you rely on.3.

Review the maker’s phone app. Permissions often live in the app, not the dashboard — check location, notifications and third-party connections there.4. Know the trade-off before you switch: turning off connected services entirely can also disable live navigation and built-in roadside assistance.5.

Selling the car? Clean it like a phone: unpair your phones, delete saved addresses and contacts, unlink your account in the app, then run the factory reset in the car’s settings.Common mistake: resetting only the radio presets. Your home address, call history and logged-in accounts can stay in the car for its next owner.