Ford Motor Company
Consumer Discretionary
66
out of 100. Number 71 of 512, counting from the worst.
Where Ford Motor Company does well
- Ford's core FordPass app agreement contains no forced arbitration clause (court filings in the 2023 3G-telematics litigation note FordPass's plain terms give no avenue to compel arbitration).
- Warranty disputes go through the BBB AUTO LINE program, where the consumer is not bound by the arbitration decision.
- The Connectivity Package's auto-renewal requires explicit consent at activation, lets customers opt out during the included year, and annual plans are 100% refundable within 14 days.
- Ford honors Global Privacy Control opt-out signals and reports CCPA opt-out requests honored with a median response of 1 day (2025 metrics).
Ford states it has sold customers' geolocation data (where their vehicles are) to advertising and digital analytics companies in the prior 12 months, under the California privacy-law section of its own notice.
The fine print
6 clauses and findings from the draft archive, dated 1 October 2026. The plain English comes first; the small print is the company's own words. None of these has been checked yet.
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Ford states it has sold customers' geolocation data (where their vehicles are) to advertising and digital analytics companies in the prior 12 months, under the California privacy-law section of its own notice.
Geolocation Data | Sale: Yes | Share: Yes | Purposes: For marketing and advertising. Categories of Recipients: Advertising and digital analytics companies, and other companies that we work with to offer Products to our customers.
Ford Motor Company US Privacy Notice — (Selling and Sharing of Personal Information table)
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In the Ford Security Package Limited Warranty Benefit, either side can force binding arbitration, and you waive any right to group or class arbitration.
Either You or We may choose to have any dispute related to this Agreement decided by binding arbitration. You agree not to consolidate or group Your dispute with other arbitrations or disputes concerning this Agreement or the solicitation or sale of any vehicle protection product. You agree that You will not participate in any class arbitration concerning this Agreement or the solicitation or sale of any vehicle protection product.
User Terms for Ford Security Package, v1.2, Jan 8 2025, Appendix A §6
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Vehicle data tied to a theft alert or stolen-vehicle case is kept for up to a decade after the case closes.
Ford will retain data related to a stolen vehicle case ... for up to ten (10) years.
User Terms for Ford Security Package, v1.2, Jan 8 2025, §A Few Important Points
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Ford shares VIN-linked vehicle data with insurance companies, auction houses, lenders, and prospective buyers for valuation purposes.
We may sell or disclose ... Vehicle Verification and Valuation Partners ... We disclose information about factory-installed vehicle features and options to third parties such as auction companies, insurance companies, dealers, lenders, guidebook providers, vehicle websites, and prospective buyers so that they can verify a vehicle's features and options and estimate its value. The features and options information that we disclose to these third parties is linked to the unique VIN.
Ford Motor Company US Privacy Notice — (Our Disclosures of Personal Information)
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Ford can change, suspend, or kill FordPass features at any time with no notice, and simply continuing to use the app counts as agreeing to the changes.
Subject to Section 7, we may modify these Terms or modify, update, correct, suspend, or discontinue or cancel FordPass, any of its or associated feature, program, functionality or manner of operation at any time without notice or any obligation to you. ... your continued use of FordPass or its features will indicate your acceptance of the modified Terms.
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Activating the included Connectivity Package year requires handing over a card and consenting to auto-renewal; when the free year ends, you're automatically charged $14.99/month or $149.95/year.
Credit card and auto-renew consent are required for activation. ... When the included year ends, the customer will be billed monthly at a rate of $14.99 or annually at a rate of $149.95, based on what the customer selects.
How these were found
US Privacy Notice read live at ford.com/help/privacy/, effective July 1, 2026 — the most current Ford US consumer privacy document. Ford Security Package User Terms v1.2 (Jan 8, 2025) read live on ford.com; note Appendix A's warranty section lists a Wisconsin rewrite and several state carve-outs. FordPass Terms v1.5 (effective Feb 7, 2025) read from the fordpass.com Canada locale mirror — the US Ford App terms page could not be located separately, so Canada mirror is flagged. Ford.com's site-level Terms of Use page and US Ford App Terms and Conditions were not located via search; dealer-site terms (e.g., a dealer site with binding arbitration) were excluded as dealer documents, not Ford Motor Company terms. Scores are editorial judgment; all clauses are verbatim or close paraphrase of documents actually read.
These notes come from the original draft and are not independent verification.