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California residents may find it difficult to acquire new wheels next month if state legislators can’t hustle a bill across the line to delay the implementation of a series of digital privacy measures. If the state fails to extend its July 1st deadline, every “connected” car in California will become a very expensive lot ornament.
That’s probably not what the state’s legislative body had in mind in 2024 when it passed a law which (among many other consumer electronics privacy provisions) required automakers to implement new hurdles for would-be electronic stalkers. State law now requires manufacturers of any connected device to allow owners to terminate shared access to location-tracking services when presented with evidence of a restraining order.
Well, according to Automotive News, automakers are collectively warning California that they’re not going to finish implementing their new safeguards in time to meet the July 1 deadline—and likely won’t be able to fully comply with the new law before the end of 2026.
As it stands, dealers would have to stop selling any connected car (new or used) whose manufacturer has not yet complied with the law next Wednesday. California’s state legislature is crafting a bill (SB 719) to postpone the first of the new measures by a year, and full implementation until 2031; that would align it with California’s new remote kill switch requirement.
That would represent a three-year delay for full compliance; currently, all elements are required to be in place by Jan. 1, 2028.
With the the intrusiveness (and exploitability) of modern connected systems, it’s hard to fault California for implementing consumer protections, but it seems automakers simply couldn’t stand things up in time. So, how ’bout it? Can California’s State Senate get itself in gear quickly enough to make this a nothingburger? There’s less than a week to go, sports fans.
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Byron is an editor at The Drive with a keen eye for infrastructure, sales and regulatory stories.
