These 25 car brands rated ‘terrible’ at privacy. Details

A Mozilla Foundation report rated Elon Musk's Tesla as ‘worst’, while French automaker Renault was the best among the reviewed brands.

Published on: Sep 14, 2023, 10:54:42 IST

By HT News Desk, New Delhi

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Elon Musk's Tesla is the ‘worst’ at privacy and security, according to Mozilla Foundation – the developers of Mozilla Firefox – which assessed as many as 25 automobile brands as part of a privacy report.

A Tesla logo on a Model S is photographed inside of a Tesla dealership. (REUTERS/Used only for representation)

Each brand got a ‘Privacy Not Included’ warning label from Mozilla Foundation, with the study concluding that ‘modern cars are a privacy nightmare.’

Why are these brands ‘terrible’ at privacy?

This is because of the following four reasons, as per the report:

(1.) All were found collecting 'too much personal' data.

(2.) Most (92% or 23) give drivers little to no control over data.

(3.) Most (84% or 21) ‘share or sell’ the owner's data.

(4.) The NGO could not confirm if any of the brands met its Minimum Security Standards.

The rankings

For the report, Mozilla Foundation analysed the brands' data privacy under five categories: Data use, Data control, Track record, Security, and AI.

Here's how these were ranked, from ‘bad’ to ‘worst’:

(1.) Renault

(2.) Dacia

(3.) BMW

(4.) Subaru

(5.) Fiat

(6.) Jeep

(7.) Chrysler

(8.) Dodge

(9.) Volkswagen

(10.) Toyota

(11.) Lexus

(12.) Ford

(13.) Lincoln

(14.) Audi

(15.) Mercedes-Benz

(16.) Honda

(17.) Acura

(18.) Kia

(19.) Chevrolet

(20.) Buick

(21.) General Motors

(22.) Cadillac

(23.) Hyundai

(25.) Nissan

(25.) Tesla

Some interesting facts

As per the NGO, Tesla is only the second-ever product reviewed by it to receive all of its privacy ‘dings’ (it failed under all five categories mentioned above). On the other hand, both Nissan and Kia collect data related to a person's sexual activities.

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