By Judson Phillips
The date was Nov. 19, 2009. The United States Senate held a hearing where the heads of three major automobile industries clamored for a bailout. They said that without $25 billion, they would go bankrupt, and the U.S. economy would crash. They also assured members that they would pay it all back.
Fast forward to the present, and every member of Congress should now admit that it was a mistake to take these CEOs' word at face value.
The auto industry claimed the $80 billion-plus auto bailout of 2008-2014 proved profitable for the United States economy, but it didn't. These companies left over $9 billion of the taxpayers' tab unpaid. That's an absolute tragedy given that many of these companies the taxpayers bailed out are now among the wealthiest in the country. General Motors booked nearly $20 billion in the past two years, and the profits of Stellantis (the owner of Jeep, Dodge and Ram) jumped 26% in 2022 from 2021, to almost $18 billion.
One would think these auto giants would feel fat and happy now – but no, they haven't yet hit the brakes. They're still moving full speed ahead in looking for ways to profit off the American people's backs – even if it constitutes a massive violation of their privacy and property rights.
One of the ways they're doing this is by making billions of dollars off the data produced by their cars in ways that would make the bloodsucking Big Tech data giants blush.
The advent of electric vehicles and, more critically, autonomous vehicles will make Google and Facebook seem like data-collection amateurs. That's because self-driving cars rely on an array of sensors to collect data about the surrounding environment and the drivers' actions. These vehicles record, analyze and save drivers' almost every decision the driver makes in a given day.
The fact that this data is being collected isn't a bad thing. It's helping consumers receive everything from insurance discounts to safer roadways and driver experiences. The problem is that automakers are assuming ownership of this property and selling it to third parties without their consumers' knowledge.
In a recent radio podcast, Ford CEO Jim Hackett intimated that car makers are using and monetizing this data in unchecked ways. He said that his company already knows how much money its customers make, where they work, if they're married and how long they've lived in their houses. He says Ford has "never ever been challenged" on how it uses that data, which speaks to its significant leverage over this information. Congress needs to change this.
It's estimated that this car data will be worth between $450 and 750 billion by 2030. Most drivers of "connected" cars are unaware the data produced and collected is seen by automobile manufacturers as an asset and sellable commodity. Issues of privacy, security, choice, transparency and even portability abound. But far and away the most important concern here is the most obvious one: Should the auto industry receive another congressional bailout, in the form of this data windfall, to the tune of billions at our expense?
Just like in 2009, the American people are struggling financially. Seventy percent of Americans presently feel financially stressed. However, unlike in 2009, the auto industry is doing tremendously well. U.S. car and car-part manufacturers saw $32 billion in profits in the third quarter of last year – the highest grossing total they've seen since 2016. While some still argue that the 2009 auto bailout was justified, how can anyone posit that the same could be true in 2023?
The chairwoman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rogers, R-Wash., is a champion of autonomous vehicles. She envisions a future where millions of self-driving cars are on our roadways. Likewise, Rep. Bob Latta, R-Ohio, a member of the committee, has stated that enacting the SELF-DRIVE Act (which will create a regulatory framework for self-driving cars) and other similarly profiled pieces of legislation is a critical priority. Fair enough, but Congress can't afford to put the cart before the horse. The House Commerce Committee – in particular, Reps. Gus Bulrakis, R-Fla., Tim Wahlberg, R-Mich., and the rest of the Innovation, Data, and Commerce Subcommittee – needs to stop these auto companies from free-riding off their customers' personal information (their property) before it makes it any easier for car makers' autonomous vehicles to come to market.
Both chambers were fooled by the industry's bailout tricks once before. Now, it's time for them to demonstrate that they're not willing to make the same mistake again. Their constituents who will be voting with their wallets come next election cycle are watching.
Judson Phillips is the founder of Tea Party Nation.
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