By Vanguard Staff
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Consumer advocates are sharply criticizing a last-minute bill authored by state Sen. Christopher Cabaldon, arguing the measure would delay protections intended to shield domestic violence survivors from being tracked through connected vehicle technology.
According to the Consumer Federation of California, SB 719 would postpone by five years a California requirement scheduled to take effect July 1 that requires automobile manufacturers to provide ways for drivers to terminate remote access to connected vehicle services used to track their movements.
Consumer advocates said the legislation, which was substantially rewritten earlier this month, would delay implementation of safeguards designed to prevent abusers from using vehicle technology to locate and monitor survivors attempting to escape abusive situations.
“In the dark of night and at the last minute, the auto industry is working overtime to avoid helping protect victims of domestic violence and those at risk of domestic violence,” said Robert Herrell, executive director of the Consumer Federation of California.
“This despicable action will put women at risk of harm, period,” Herrell added. “This is happening because the auto industry wants to delay innovation to protect women. We oppose this last-minute bill.”
The legislation at the center of the controversy is SB 719, authored by Cabaldon, a Yolo County Democrat. According to the Consumer Federation of California, the bill was “gutted and amended” on June 10, replacing its previous focus on artificial intelligence reforms with language affecting connected vehicle privacy protections.
Under current law, beginning July 1, 2026, vehicle manufacturers would be required to provide mechanisms allowing drivers to terminate remote access to connected vehicle services in circumstances involving domestic violence and stalking concerns.
The Consumer Federation of California said Cabaldon’s revised bill would extend the compliance deadline until 2031.
The organization also objected to provisions it said would permit automakers to determine for themselves whether compliance is “technologically infeasible.”
“The key provision in question pertains to ‘connected vehicle location access,’ as the term is used in current law,” the Consumer Federation of California said in a statement. “This is the way in which abusers have tracked DV victims to keep them from escaping, among other things.”
Consumer advocates traced the origins of the current protections to legislation advanced in 2024.
The Consumer Federation of California sponsored AB 3139, authored by Assemblymember Akilah Weber Pierson, which sought to address the misuse of vehicle technology by abusive partners. That measure was later incorporated into SB 1394, authored by then-state Sen. and current U.S. Rep. Dave Min.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the legislation into law.
According to the governor’s office, the law would “PROTECT VICTIMS FROM TRACKING by requiring car manufacturers to allow drivers to terminate remote access to a vehicle, preventing abusers from tracking victims and even manipulating controls of the vehicle.”
Advocates noted that California’s action followed federal efforts in 2023 addressing similar concerns involving cellphone accounts controlled by abusive partners.
The dangers associated with connected vehicle technologies have received increasing national attention.
In late 2023, The New York Times published an article titled, “Your Car is Tracking You. Abusive Partners May Be Too.” During the same month, Reuters published a report titled, “An Abused Wife Took on Tesla Over Tracking Tech. She Lost.”
According to the Consumer Federation of California, both reports documented situations in which vehicle manufacturers allegedly refused requests to sever abusers’ access to connected vehicle accounts despite survivors obtaining court orders.
“Unfortunately, there are multiple other examples of vehicle manufacturers refusing to act to protect survivors and SB 719 is the most recent proof of that utter neglect by the auto industry,” the organization said.
The Consumer Federation of California also expressed frustration over the development of the legislation, noting that despite sponsoring one of the original measures and helping facilitate the merger of the earlier bills that became law, it was not consulted during the drafting of the revised proposal.
According to the organization, the current version of SB 719 had apparently been under development for much of the past year.
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