A federal class action lawsuit filed this week in Texas accused Toyota and an aff
iliated telematics aggregator of unlawfully collecting drivers’ information and then selling that data to Progressive.
The lawsuit alleges that Toyota and Connected Analytic Services (CAS) collected vast amounts of vehicle data, including location, spee
d, 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 purcha
sed 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 Sna
pshot program in the online sign up process, however, a background pop-up window appeared, notifying Siefke that Progressive was alre
ady 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 drivi
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ng data from tracking technology installed in his RAV4. Siefke inquired with Toyota why his driving data was shared without his permi
ssion, he was told he unknowingly signed up for a trial of sharing his driving dat
a captured by the Tracking Technology and that he had to opt out of the data sharing.
Progressive did not respond to requests for comment.
The lawsuit alleges Toyota never provided Siefke with any sort of notice tha
t 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 dat
a from CAS, a data aggregator that provides telematics and vehicle build data to insurance companies.