You might have heard that your car saves information about telematics (speed, when you slam on brakes, etc.) along with where and when you go places. Mozilla recently published an article calling cars a privacy nightmare on wheels.
Yet you may not be aware that when you connect your phone or device to the Apple or Android system installed in the car, your phone contents are often stored in the app and remain in the car. Failing to delete this data when selling, trading, or returning a leased car can result in potential privacy breaches or identity theft.
Reset your garage door opener
My in-laws gave us a car several years after they had purchased a new car. We used to joke about showing up at their house and opening the garage door because the home link system had not been reset. This is likely something you don’t want to happen to you. When you sell a car, you can hold down certain buttons (usually two at the same time) to clear your garage code. Just make sure you try to open the garage doors after the reset to confirm it’s worked.
Synced contacts and address book information
When you connect your phone to either the Android or Apple app, you can choose to sync your address book and contact information. I don’t recommend you do this, but if you did it’s probably stored on the car’s computer. You should be able to navigate through the infotainment system settings to a screen where you can delete this information.
Log out/unpair
Log out of any mobile apps that are linked to your car. After you have logged out, log back in to make sure it didn’t automatically save your password information. Also, unpair your devices from the car’s Bluetooth.
Navigation
Many people now just use their phones connected to the car for navigation. However, if your car has a built-in navigation system, make sure to clear destinations and location history. One thing I suggest is never to use your actual home address for any navigation system. Use a neighbor’s address instead.
Subscriptions
Are you a fan of satellite radio? If you have any subscriptions in your car, make sure to either cancel them or transfer them to another car. You may also choose to put them on hold if you have a free trial with your new car purchase. After doing this, once again check to make sure the system has reset in your car.
Factory reset
Some cars come with a factory reset, allowing you to wipe your data and return your car to its original settings. Whether this will wipe everything is in question – you may start with this or you can use it after you’ve gone through the previous steps as an extra precaution.
With your new car
If you’re concerned with privacy, rethink how you will interact with your new car. Some people suggest you don’t use the Android or Apple apps that come with the car. Or if you do, to only link your phone without allowing for the software to store your other information. And as I noted above, when you’re setting your home address, don’t use your actual address.
Even if you’re not selling your car, you can still delete personal information that’s currently stored on it. You may have given access to more information than you realized.
While you may be okay with limited privacy when you own your car, most people wouldn’t be too thrilled to find out that their list of contacts was out there for the next purchaser to access. Follow these steps, read through your manual to find out if there are other ways to remove your information, and consider a factory reset before selling. You’ll be glad you did.
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