Ford publishes privacy promise and data education site ahead of connected EV push

Ford makes its data practices explicit

Ford has announced what it calls a "privacy promise" — a public commitment to protect customer vehicle data and to leave sharing decisions in the hands of owners. As TechCrunch reports, the automaker also launched an educational website that explains what data it gathers, how that information is used, and how to change the relevant settings.

The controls themselves are not new; Ford owners have had them for years. What has changed is the effort to spell them out plainly, and the timing is deliberate. Ford is preparing to introduce a new generation of more connected vehicles, including models built on its upcoming "universal electric vehicle" platform, and wants customers to understand the bargain before they arrive.

"I personally think that it's super important for us to be making it very clear to our customers what our data practices are, and not only that, but making a commitment to them about it," Ford chief privacy officer Kristin Jones told TechCrunch.

Jones, who joined Ford in 2024 after roughly two decades working on privacy in the legal, financial and healthcare sectors, said the push to improve how the company communicates about data sharing has been in the works for most of her tenure.

Where Ford draws the line

The new site will lay out what data Ford collects, the purposes it serves and how owners can opt in or out. Part of the exercise is justification: sharing vehicle health data, for example, gives owners better real-time information about whether their car needs maintenance, but Jones acknowledged it will also support research and development of future technologies.

Ford also draws some explicit boundaries. According to TechCrunch, the company says customer data will not be used for targeted advertising, and Jones stated that Ford does not share information about how customers drive their vehicles with data brokers. "We're not in it to try and monetize data in some way," she said.

Opting out does come at a cost, however. Jones noted that turning off connected services disables features such as real-time navigation and built-in roadside assistance — a trade-off the new site is intended to make transparent before owners make the choice.

An industry under scrutiny

The backdrop is an auto sector making its cars steadily more connected. TechCrunch cites polling showing that U.S. customers want the features connectivity enables, such as remote start, navigation and driver-assistance software, yet only 14% said they fully understand what data their vehicle collects.

That awareness gap has already produced consequences. General Motors ran into trouble with the Federal Trade Commission over quietly selling driver data to third parties, a practice that also resulted in a $220 million settlement with 36 states in the week before Ford's announcement, TechCrunch reports.

Jones declined to comment on competitors but pointed to a broader deficit of trust. A Ford survey of 1,000 consumers found that 91% considered data privacy a key consideration when choosing products, even if it is not something they think about daily.

Other companies see an opening in the same dynamics. Slate Auto, the EV startup backed by Jeff Bezos, has pitched itself as a better steward of customer data ahead of the expected launch of its minimalist pickup truck later this year.

Why it matters

Ford is turning data stewardship into a public, measurable commitment at the moment connectivity becomes central to the vehicle experience. An explicit promise creates a yardstick: if Ford later shares data in ways it has ruled out, the reputational and regulatory cost would be far higher than staying quiet would have been. For consumers, the educational push targets a genuine gap, given how few drivers understand what their cars collect. And with GM's settlement fresh in the news and startups like Slate Auto marketing privacy as a feature, data handling is becoming a competitive axis in the car market rather than a back-office compliance chore.