We often hear stories about companies selling your sensitive personal information, including your location data, to the highest bidder. The latest culprit appears to be General Motors.

The FTC alleges that General Motors and OnStar, GM's subscription-based in-vehicle safety and security system, collected, used and sold precise geolocation data and driving behavior information from drivers in millions of vehicles without adequate notice. consumers and obtain their consent.

On Thursday, the agency issued a proposed order banning the company from selling such data to consumer reporting agencies for five years.

The FTC said in its complaint that GM used a "misleading registration process" to get consumers to sign up for Onstar. Some users reported that they were unaware they were signed up for OnStar's Smart Driver feature, which promises to use driving data to help drivers improve vehicle performance and encourage safer driving.

"General Motors monitored and sold people's precise geolocation data and driver behavior information, sometimes as often as every three seconds," FTC Chairman Lina M. Khan said in a statement.

It's the latest problem to plague the automaking giant in recent weeks. Last month, General Motors stopped funding its self-driving car unit Cruise, in which it had invested more than $10 billion.

Thursday's settlement with the FTC follows an investigation by The New York Times' Kashmir Hill that found GM had been collecting detailed information about its customers' driving habits, including every emergency braking, late-night drive and... Speeding and selling these records to insurance companies and third-party data brokers. The result is that drivers start seeing higher insurance premiums but don't understand why.

The potential misuse of customer data goes beyond increasing insurance premiums. A person's geolocation data can reveal the most intimate details of a person's life, including where they live and work and whether they have visited medical facilities or places of worship. For example, if location data falls into the wrong hands, it could pose serious dangers to abortion seekers across the country.

As part of the FTC's proposed order — if approved by the court — GM and OnStar would be prohibited from disclosing data to consumer reporting agencies and would also be required to obtain explicit consent from consumers before collecting any future vehicle data. Automakers will also need to allow customers to access and delete their data and limit the collection of data from their vehicles.

Because this is still a proposed order, the agreement will be subject to a 30-day public comment period before a final ruling takes effect.

TechCrunch has reached out to GM and the FTC for more information and will update when we hear back.