INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita says General Motors deceived customers by misrepresenting OnStar services as a safety and convenience feature but then went behind customers' backs to sell their driving data for a profit. This data ended up being used by brokers to create "r isk profiles" and "driving scores," according to the attorney general, which were ultimately sold to insurers who used the data to jack up insurance rates and even cancel policies for some Hoosiers. “General Motors and OnStar turned a supposed safety feature into a way to make money, profiting off Indiana drivers without their knowledge," Rokita said. "We’re taking action to hold them accountable and protect our consumers from these deceptive practices." Indiana's attorney general, Todd Rokita speaks in Indianapolis. (Darron Cummings/The Associated Press) The Indiana Attorney General's Office filed a lawsuit against General Motors and its subsidiary, OnStar, on March 19. The lawsuit alleges that General Motors misled customers into relinquishing their privacy rights without knowledge by presenting OnStar as a safety feature that would benefit customers. But the lawsuit accuses GM of not fully revealing the scope of the information OnStar was collecting, which included start time, end time, driving speed, hard braking, late-night driving habits, hard acceleration and total miles driven. Worse, while GM boasted that OnStar was a boon for customers, the lawsuit says it was actually GM who was profiting off the system by taking the collected driving data and selling it to data brokers — all while customers were none the wiser. "At no point were customers notified of (GM's) practice of selling customers' Driving Data to data brokers," the lawsuit says. The lawsuit estimates that "hundreds of thousands of Hoosiers" have been affected by GM's "deceptive and unfair practices" due to data brokers reselling the driving data to insurance companies. Insurance companies allegedly used this data to set higher premiums or even cancel policies for unsuspecting Hoosiers, Rokita claimed. “Hoosiers were secretly misled and used,” Rokita added. “Their actions are unacceptable and we’re fighting back to ensure this type of behavior never happens again.”  Rokita is seeking a permanent injunction to stop GM's practices, which are accused of violating Indiana's Deceptive Consumer Sales Act. The attorney general said his office also aims to bring civil penalties against the automotive giant while also seeking consumer restitution and other relief. If you believe you've been impacted by these allegations, file a complaint at indianaconsumer.com or call 1-800-382-5516.  ...read more read less