Cars are collecting your data: What you need to know about privacy risks

Cars collect a lot of sensitive data about drivers.

"Unfortunately, there aren't really clear rules about what they can do with that data," said Justin Brookman, the director of technology policy at Consumer Reports.

Information collected includes your location, speed, what time you drive and more.

"These cars also often have lots of different cameras, both internal facing at your face and external facing," Brookman said. "They have microphones, so they have the ability to collect incredibly sensitive and personal information about you."

Some car manufacturers sell that information to data brokers, so what can you do if you want to limit what you share?

"You can be more self-aware during the purchasing process," Brookman said. "They often will put a lot of papers in front of you to sign. Keep in mind, you don't have to sign a lot of those. A lot of those are optional, and you can just say, 'No.'"

For the car that's already in your garage or driveway, take a look through the settings of your infotainment system to see if there are any data sharing settings that can be changed.

You can also ask what is being collected on you.

"You have the right to reach out to a company and say, 'Hey, what do you know about me?' And in many cases, you have the ability to say, don't sell my data," Brookman said.

This type of data collection is on the Federal Trade Commission's radar, too.

The commission recently posted about it, warning car manufacturers and all business against the illegal collection, use and disclosure of personal data.

The commission also highlighted recent enforcement actions to that point, which you can read about here.