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Tesla Vehicle Data Collection

Tesla, Inc. · Connected Car

Staff Reviewed — a person at DeSpy reviewed this rating.

5.0Surveillance
Index
Policy — what its policy permitsD
Evidence — what research provesD

Processes camera and diagnostic data primarily on-vehicle by default and shares fleet-learning footage only with opt-in consent, though Mozilla still failed it for a confusing, lengthy privacy policy.

Why this rating

Tesla processes camera and diagnostic data primarily on-vehicle by default and requires opt-in consent for fleet-learning footage sharing, a more privacy-protective architecture than peers, though Mozilla still failed it for a confusing, lengthy policy.

What it is

Manufacturer
Tesla, Inc.
Category
Connected Car
Model years
2012-present
Market status
Current
Companion app
Tesla App

The evidence 1

Independent research, regulatory action, lawsuits and journalism about how this device handles personal data — the "what actually happens" axis. Each links to its source.

  1. S4Mozilla: Privacy Nightmare on Wheels — Every Car Brand Reviewed Flunks Privacy Test
    Ngo review · Mozilla Foundation · 2023-09-01

    Mozilla's *Privacy Not Included* review found all 25 major car brands failed its privacy standards, the worst category it had ever reviewed.

    Why it matters here: Mozilla still failed Tesla despite its more privacy-protective on-vehicle default processing, citing policy complexity.

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Think something here is wrong?

Evidence and research improve when people push back. Tell us what to re-check — a misattributed domain, an outdated classification, a claim about your own app — and a human will review it. Responses can take up to 30 days.

If you leave an email it is encrypted at rest and opened only to answer you — never shared, never used for anything else. It is erased 30 days after we resolve this (or 180 days if it is still open) without you asking, and you can erase it sooner at any time; either way your correction stays, anonymously. Leave it blank and your request is fully anonymous from the start (we store no IP address either way).

Descriptive, cited, not legal advice; ratings are versioned and corrections create a new version. Data from the IoT Info Grabber DB research project, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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