VW Group Collects Vehicle Movement Data

VW data collection and leak

• VW Group vehicles collect fine-grained location and other telemetry; a series of security failures allegedly exposed this data online, including names, emails, and birth dates.
• Commenters stress that the scandal is not just collection but the combination of mass tracking and poor protection of PII.
• Some note that other manufacturers likely collect similar data; the difference is that VW’s implementation visibly failed.

Corporate incentives, security culture, and regulation

• Several argue that security and privacy rarely get prioritized because they don’t generate revenue; “priority 3” items never get done.
• Some see this as a cultural problem in German car companies: management is described as political, not technical.
• Others emphasize that only strong legal incentives (GDPR, product bans, liability) will force better practices; GDPR is said to exist but not be enforced strongly against big players.

Dealers, service, and warranties

• Discussion of how dealer servicing is used to control customers: manufacturers often make warranty coverage de facto contingent on dealer-only service, even where law allows independent garages.
• In practice, consumers often must litigate to enforce their rights, so many accept dealer terms despite privacy concerns.

Comparisons with other automakers and Chinese EVs

• Some see VW as emblematic of a failing, scandal-prone industry; others note that Tesla and others also collect extensive data.
• One branch debates whether Chinese EVs pose a special national-security risk versus similar surveillance risks from Western brands; views range from “serious threat” to “fearmongering and hypocrisy.”

Consumer responses and right to repair

• Suggestions include buying older “dumb” cars, refusing tracking add-ons, and using GDPR erasure requests in the EU.
• Others foresee “ECU jailbreaks” and performance shops bypassing subscriptions, though there are concerns about legal crackdowns (DMCA, emissions rules) and secure boot.

Telematics stack and regulation

• New cars in the EU must have an SOS/eCall system, implying a built-in SIM and pan‑EU data plan.
• That connectivity is then reused for navigation, apps, remote control, speed-limit beeping, and continuous telemetry upload.
• Some see this as a government-encouraged surveillance infrastructure; others frame it as safety and convenience that has been “weaponized.”