A federal class action lawsuit filed this week in Texas accuses Toyota and an affiliated telematics aggregator of unlawfully collecting drivers’ information and then selling that data to Progressive.
The lawsuit alleges that Toyota and Connected Analytic Services (CAS) have collected vast amounts of vehicle data, including location, speed, direction, braking and swerving/cornering events, and then shared that information with Progressive’s Snapshot data sharing program.
The class action seeks an award of damages, including actual, nominal, consequential damages, and punitive, and an order prohibiting further collection of drivers’ location and vehicle data.
The lawsuit was filed by Philip Siefke, a Florida resident who in 2021 purchased a new Toyota RAV4 XLE equipped with a telematics device that can track and collect driving data.
Siefke attempted to sign up for an insurance policy with Progressive in January 2025. After opting out of Progressive’s Snapshot program in the online sign up process, however, a background pop-up window appeared, notifying Siefke that Progressive was already in possession of his driving data, the lawsuit says.
A Progressive customer service representative explained to Siefke over the phone that the carrier had obtained his driving data from tracking technology installed in his RAV4. Siefke inquired with Toyota why his driving data was shared without his permission, he was told he unknowingly signed up for a trial of sharing his driving data captured by the Tracking Technology and that he had to opt out of the data sharing.
Progressive declined to comment.
The lawsuit alleges Toyota never provided Siefke with any sort of notice that the car manufacture would share his driving data with third parties.
When Siefke followed up with Progressive to inquire about the exact flow of his driving data, he was told that Progressive obtains data from CAS, a data aggregator that provides telematics and vehicle build data to insurance companies.
Related: Texas Lawsuit Alleges Allstate Illegally Collects Driver Data
A 2022 Toyota press release announcing the automaker’s partnership with CAS says “telematics data and driver information is shared only at the express request and direction of Toyota customers.” CAS is an affiliate of Toyota Insurance Management Solutions (TIMS).
TIMS formed a separate partnership with Progressive to provide owners of telematics-connected vehicles with an opportunity to seek insurance discounts. Progressive said that Toyota customers have the ability to enroll in connected services upon purchasing select Toyota vehicles, and once enrolled, data is collected that the owner can later consent to share with Progressive for a potential discount.
The lawsuit alleges that despite Toyota and CAS’s commitment to customer privacy and representation, the companies nonetheless illegally share driving data.
The lawsuit says class members suffered actual injury from having their driving data collected and sold to third parties including, but not limited to, damage to and diminution in the value of their driving data, violation of their privacy rights; (c) the likelihood of future theft of their driving data.
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Lawsuits
Personal Auto
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