Tesla tops Mozilla's list of 'creepiest' carmakers, but 25 brands failed basic data privacy tests

The non-profit Mozilla Foundation deemed cars the "worst product category" ever reviewed for data privacy, according to research released Wednesday. Its Privacy Not Included Research division reviews everything from smart home devices to health and wellness apps. But of the 25 car brands the research team studied, not a single one passed the reviews, with top brands like Tesla, Nissan and Hyundai landing at the top of the worst-of-the-worst list.

Tesla earned a mark against it for untrustworthy use of AI, making it the second product reviewed by Mozilla to fail every privacy test conducted. That's because its AI-powered autopilot feature caused several deaths and hundreds of crashes. Meanwhile, companies like Nissan and Kia say they can collect information about your sexual activity and sex life, and Hyundai promises to comply with “lawful requests, whether formal or informal" to share your information with government and law enforcement.

That left Renault, Dacia and BMW as the "least creepy" car options. Researchers couldn't confirm whether Renault, which also owns Dacia, encrypts the data it collects, and it doesn't go much beyond what's required by data privacy law, but compared to others it's not the worst. The reason for BMW landing higher on the list was also marginal, as researchers based it on the fact that the car maker doesn't explicitly say they sell data to third parties for advertising purposes, while other manufacturers explicitly claim to do so. "From our reading of BMW's privacy policy, they might not do this. But we're also not 100% sure they don't," the researchers wrote.

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