Congress is moving to keep technology connected to foreign adversaries out of vehicles sold in the United States, as concerns grow that China could use cars, cameras, monitors, and electronic components to collect information from Americans.

Republicans and Democrats in both chambers are backing legislation that would ban Chinese-made vehicles, software, and electronic components associated with foreign adversaries. The cooperation marks a rare bipartisan push in a Washington routinely divided by politics.

The American Enterprise Institute described the potential value of the information available through connected cars. “Chinese growth in the connected vehicle industry has expanded its access to foreign data. Automakers could gain streams of behavioral, geographic, and infrastructural data.”

Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, a sponsor of the House legislation, said drivers should control the information produced by their vehicles. “First and foremost, no one should spy on you in your car. You should be able to control every signal coming in or going out of your car,” he told Just the News.

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“The data that you're creating in it is really your data. You should have a property right in that. We're a long way off from being able to get full control of that,” Davidson said during an interview on the Just the News, No Noise television show.

Keep Beijing out of your backseat.

The Connected Vehicle Security Act protects Americans from the national security risks posed by Chinese-connected vehicle technology. Our vehicles should never become tools for the Chinese Communist Party to spy on Americans or collect their data. — Rep. Warren Davidson (@Rep_Davidson) October 9, 2026

Davidson said lawmakers should at least be able to unite against Chinese access to such information while broader questions over data ownership remain unresolved. “In the meantime, I think, hopefully, we can at least agree China shouldn't be able to do that,” he said.

The House proposal is called the Connected Vehicle Security Act. A Senate companion was introduced by Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, and the legislation has drawn support across the political spectrum, including from liberal Sen. Elissa Slotkin.

The United Auto Workers Union also supports the measure. According to its website, the UAW has approximately 392,447 active members and more than 580,000 retired members, giving the organization a significant stake in legislation affecting the American automobile industry.

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“Our national and economic security relies on a strong US auto industry,” UAW President Shawn Fain said when the proposal was unveiled. He also said, “The American Dream was launched and sustained out of good union auto jobs here in the United States.”

Fain argued that rebuilding US manufacturing and raising standards for the working class cannot happen while the automobile industry continues moving jobs and production overseas for corporate profits. He said the legislation strengthens existing rules governing connected vehicles.

“By building on and strengthening the existing connected vehicles rule, this legislation puts common sense guardrails on a major threat to our nation’s auto industry,” Fain said.

Moreno’s version would restrict the importation, manufacture, sale, resale, or introduction into interstate commerce of connected vehicles and related hardware or software associated with foreign adversaries. The restrictions would reach technology ranging from GPS systems and entertainment equipment to Chinese-made vehicles.

The congressional push follows reports and allegations involving Chinese technology in other products. The Wall Street Journal reported that Britain’s Ministry of Defense recently revealed that a component installed in its military drones had been secretly transmitting data back to China.

Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway has also sued Lorex, a major manufacturer of baby monitors and home cameras. The lawsuit accuses Lorex of “concealing material ties to the CCP and Chinese military” and potentially leaving its devices vulnerable to spying on Americans, allegations the company disputes.

Former Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said placing data-gathering technology inside products is central to China’s foreign espionage strategy. “To be clear, this is part of Beijing’s playbook,” Wolf wrote in a recent Fox News OpEd.

“It uses intellectual-property theft, cyberespionage and industrial policy to become indispensable to Western supply chains and then exploits that access to collect intelligence and create vulnerabilities it can use against its adversaries,” Wolf added.

Davidson also argued that China’s conduct undercuts commitments made when it entered global trade markets. He said China agreed to operate as a market economy in exchange for joining the World Trade Organization, but is not recognized as one.

According to Davidson, the Chinese government can target industries and sell goods below what competitors can produce them for, allowing China to capture markets and damage entire sectors. For Congress, connected cars have now become the latest front in that economic and security fight.

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