Plugging Your Phone Into Rentals Is A Bad Idea

Ford infotainment system (Credit: Ford)

How many times have you rented a car and connected your smartphone to the infotainment system? You might not want to do that again, if you ever have. The FTC just threw up an enlightening blog post on its consumer website, and it outlines the dangers of the practice.

It might seem innocent connecting your phone to a car. You might do it with your car, but rentals are in the hands of a lot of people. The FTC points out that your personal info might be stored on the car, and it can be accessed fairly easily.

Most people likely wouldn’t want a complete stranger knowing where they live, work, or the places they visited, etc. That’s exactly what’s left behind weeks or months after you rent a car.

Numbers you called and even entire text messages might be stored on the infotainment system.

You can take some steps the FTC recommends to keep your data private. First, don’t charge your phone through a USB port, because that can transfer data automatically. If you do connect your phone to the vehicle, on the permissions screen only allow the bare essential information to be accessed from your phone. When you’re about to turn the car in, find your phone in the settings menu and delete it from the system.

Sound paranoid? Everyone should decide what info about them is accessible to strangers, so you should decide what you leave behind in a rental.