A company that says it won’t sell your data is making a claim, not offering a guarantee. Ford is hoping drivers will hear the difference between those two things only faintly, because it just rolled out a “privacy promise” right as its next wave of connected cars approaches.
The automaker announced the pledge on Monday, calling it an “explicit commitment” to keep vehicle data safe and give customers control over what they share. It also launched a website explaining what data Ford collects, why, and how to opt in or out. Chief privacy officer Kristin Jones told TechCrunch the controls have existed for years. The new part is the communication, plus a push ahead of vehicles built on Ford’s upcoming universal electric vehicle platform.
The timing is not subtle. General Motors was caught quietly selling driving data to third parties, drew attention from the Federal Trade Commission, and last week agreed to a $220 million settlement with 36 states. Ford is clearly trying to avoid standing in the same spot. Slate Auto, the Bezos-backed EV startup, is already pitching itself as a more trustworthy alternative for its minimalist pickup.
The consumer data explains why this matters. Ford surveyed 1,000 people and found 91% called data privacy a key consideration. Yet separate polling shows only 14% of U.S. customers fully understand what their vehicle collects. That gap is where the abuse happens. People want remote start, navigation, and driver assistance, and they accept settings screens they never read.
Jones was direct on one point: “We also do not share information about how our customers are driving their vehicles to data brokers.” She added that Ford isn’t trying to monetize data, and that the information won’t be used for targeted advertising. Those are useful statements. But they are statements from an interview, and the details of what counts as sharing, who counts as a broker, and what happens with partners or affiliates are exactly where privacy promises tend to get slippery.
There’s also the familiar trade-off. Turning off “connected services” disables features like real-time navigation and built-in roadside assistance. That’s a reasonable technical consequence in some cases. In others, it’s the old pressure tactic: give up the data or lose the product you paid for. Ford says the new site will better justify why it asks for access, but justification is not the same as minimization.
Vehicle health data is a good example. Ford says it gives owners real-time maintenance information. Fine. But Jones also said it will “support research and development for future technologies.” That’s a broad purpose, and it’s worth asking how long the data is kept, whether it’s tied to your identity, and whether you can refuse the R&D use while keeping the maintenance alerts.
Jones said the effort has been “a journey” for most of her time at Ford, which she joined in 2024. Credit where it’s due: plain-language explanations and a single place to manage settings are better than burying controls in menus. Still, the real test is whether Ford backs the pledge with enforceable limits, independent audits, and clear contract terms for anyone who touches the data.
For drivers, the practical advice is simple. Read the new site, check your connected services settings, and opt out of anything you don’t need. And treat any corporate privacy promise as a starting point. The GM case showed what happens when the real practice and the marketing diverge, and regulators, not press releases, were what exposed it.