---
title: "Study finds connected cars send data to advertisers and Big Tech"
description: "Testing of 21 cars from 19 brands found traffic to tracking domains, with Tesla’s Model 3 contacting 34 ad and analytics domains"
author: "rews desk"
published: 2026-09-29T14:49:44Z
modified: 2026-09-30T06:09:01Z
url: https://rews.cc/a/study-finds-connected-cars-send-data-to-advertisers-and-big--781661
language: en
tags: ["privacy", "data", "connected-cars", "tesla", "advertising", "tech"]
publisher: "Rews (https://rews.cc)"
---

# Study finds connected cars send data to advertisers and Big Tech

*Testing of 21 cars from 19 brands found traffic to tracking domains, with Tesla’s Model 3 contacting 34 ad and analytics domains*

By rews desk · September 29, 2026 · https://rews.cc/a/study-finds-connected-cars-send-data-to-advertisers-and-big--781661

## In brief

- Northeastern University and Consumer Reports tested 21 cars from 19 brands for data sharing
- Tesla’s Model 3 contacted 34 advertising, tracking and analytics domains, the most of any car tested
- Alphabet’s domains were contacted most often, including advertising domains not needed for core services
- The Buick Envista and Mercedes-Benz EQS contacted only their makers’ domains
- The researchers could not see packet contents but analysed domains, transmission volumes and timing

Connected cars share data with advertisers, tracking companies and large technology firms including Microsoft and Adobe, according to a study by researchers at Northeastern University and Consumer Reports released on Tuesday.

Testing 21 cars from 19 brands under various scenarios, including idling and driving, the researchers found repeated patterns of traffic to advertisers and trackers. Using a car’s companion app multiplied the exposure, the testing found.

In 2023 the Mozilla Foundation reviewed more than two dozen automakers’ privacy policies and concluded that “cars are the worst product category we have ever reviewed for privacy.” The new study measured actual network traffic rather than reading policy documents. Researchers parked 11 electric cars in a Faraday tent to see whether losing cellular signal would push the traffic to the cars’ Wi-Fi connections instead.

Attempts to inspect the contents of data packets using modified certificates failed in every case, the researchers said. But they said the network traces still yielded valuable information, including the domains contacted through DNS traffic, Server Name Indication details in TLS handshakes, the volume and timing of transmissions, and differences in behaviour across tests.

All the cars contacted a first-party domain belonging to the manufacturer. Some went no further: the Buick Envista and the Mercedes-Benz EQS did not appear to reach any outside domains, the study found.

Others contacted many more. Tesla’s Model 3 topped the list, reaching 34 advertising, tracking and analytics domains plus 37 domains from apps integrated into the infotainment system, according to the researchers.

Alphabet’s domains were the most frequently contacted, a result the researchers linked to the spread of the Android Automotive operating system. But many of those domains “were not necessary for core services,” the authors wrote, citing doubleclick.net and googlesyndication.com, which carry advertising.

Media streaming services such as Spotify and Sirius XM also figured prominently in the traffic, as did mapping companies including HERE, TomTom and Mapbox, the study found.