No Data Left Behind: NJ Dealers Now Obliged To Delete Personal Information From Cars

Personal and sensitive information is more important than most people think, and while some don't even care that their names and addresses leave their devices, others have become obsessed with methods to protect their details.

The smarter cars are getting, the more information they collect. It's safe to assume that after smartphones, cars are becoming a major data resource, especially because they can collect everything from driving habits to addresses, phone numbers, garage door codes, and even conversations.

New Jersey has recently adopted a bill that requires dealerships to wipe everything from the infotainment system, therefore protecting the owner and their sensitive details.

Here's everything you must know about the new regulations.

The Governor of New Jersey signed Bill A4723 in January, regulating how dealerships must handle personal information in vehicles received from customers "for the purpose of resale or lease." It means the bill doesn't cover vehicles you bring to the dealerships for repairs or maintenance, so your data will stay where it is in these cases.

However, if you decide to sell or lease your car through a dealer, they are now obliged to delete all data from the infotainment system. The personal information can include everything from navigation history to paired phones and garage door codes.

The bill explains that dealerships must conduct the data removal according to Guidelines for Media Sanitization using tools provided by the carmaker or simply the option to reset the infotainment system to the original factory settings.

One thing you must know is that the bill doesn't cover rentals or courtesy vehicles, so in these cases, you must conduct the data removal yourself if you don't want to leave anything behind.

Media sanitization shouldn't be a difficult operation, especially because most cars already come with options to reset infotainment systems to factory settings. However, the bill states that dealerships "shall advise the consumer that they may attempt to delete the personal information themselves." In plain English, you can do the whole thing on your own without involving the dealership.

Why bother? The reason is simple enough to make you care. The bill explains that dealerships are not obliged to offer the operation free of charge, so you might be charged for having the data removed from your car. The dealership can decide how much it charges for the operation, as the bill doesn't mention a specific value but only defines a "reasonable fee." However, any fee higher than $10 would already be expensive, as factory resetting an infotainment system takes only a few seconds and doesn't require advanced skills.

If more advanced media sanitization knowledge is involved, mainly if the car doesn't come with dedicated data removal tools, it makes sense for the dealer to charge "a reasonable fee for the services performed."

However, the dealership must inform you about everything related to the data removal. It must tell you about the process itself, the involved fees, and your options, as you can always contact another vendor for the operation.

The bill also includes the penalties for dealerships violating the new regulations. A dealer will get a $500 fine for a first offense and $1,000 for subsequent violations.

You can find the full bill in the attachments section below.

The new law has already come into effect, so if you sell or lease a car, you must be informed about your options regarding the data stored in the car.

I can't help but remind everybody that most cars come with options to restore the infotainment system to factory settings, in which case you can remove your data before even going to the dealership. Such options typically wipe everything stored on the car's computer, including your personal information, the synced phonebook, and addresses in the navigation system, and install applications (which themselves might include additional personal details, such as names, phone numbers, addresses, and credit cards for payments).

If you use Android Auto and CarPlay, all personal information is stored on the mobile device. Both systems are phone mirroring platforms, meaning that what you see on the infotainment screen is powered by your mobile device. The data doesn't leave your smartphone, though you're still recommended to factory reset the infotainment unit before going to the dealership to remove any traces and data that might otherwise be left behind. The process shouldn't take more than a minute, and you can find the instructions in the owner's manual.

New Jersey is the first state to regulate data wiping in cars sold or leased to dealerships, and I wouldn't be surprised to see others adopting similar regulations, especially because carmakers are slowly but surely becoming obsessed with the driver's data, including driving habits (which can be used by insurers) and navigation for serving ads.