Cybersecurity Policy Report, Bill to Ban Chinese Connected Cars Advances in Senate, (Jul 23, 2026)
A bipartisan Senate bill that would ban imports of connected vehicles from China to curtail Chinese government surveillance cleared the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee yesterday by voice vote.
The Connected Vehicle Security Act (S.B. 4429, 119th Cong. (2026)) was introduced in April by Sens. Bernie Moreno (R., Ohio) and Elissa Slotkin (D., Mich.). It would target connected cars and components made in China that could enable the Chinese government to exploit data from U.S. drivers and roadways (CPR, April 30).
Aside from concerns about the use of automotive surveillance systems to spy on Americans, the bill aims to protect the U.S. auto industry, Sens. Moreno and Slotkin indicated in a news release.
“China’s auto industry was not built to compete, it was built to destroy American manufacturing, gut the middle class, and undermine our national security,” Sen. Moreno said. “For decades, D.C. globalists propped up Chinese businesses—now it’s time for Congress to stop this cancer before it spreads through the American auto market.”
“Chinese cars are surveillance packages on wheels, with the ability to collect on American citizens and transmit that data back to Beijing,” Sen. Slotkin said. “The Chinese Communist Party’s playbook of heavily subsidizing their product and underselling the competition puts Michigan’s auto industry and millions of American workers at risk.”
Imports of connected cars and automotive software from China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia would be banned beginning Jan. 1, 2027, under the bill. A ban on automotive hardware imports from those nations would kick in on Jan. 1, 2030.
“Connected vehicles incorporate advanced information and communications technologies that collect, process, and transmit vast amounts of sensitive data, including geolocation, operational, and personal information, and are capable of being remotely accessed and controlled,” according to the bill.
Companion legislation (HR 8730) was introduced in the House by Reps. John Moolenaar (R., Mich.), chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, and Debbie Dingell (D., Mich.) (CPR, May 11).
“The Connected Vehicles Security Act is crucial to protect American jobs, national security, and the future of American manufacturing. Chinese automakers use slave labor, massive government subsidies, and unfair trade practices, and their vehicles are a national security risk with equipment that transmits data to China,” Reps. Moolenaar and Dingell said in a joint statement.
The Commerce Department has already enacted an import ban that begins next year on vehicles and vehicle technology from adversarial foreign nations using its authorities under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and a 2019 presidential order directing it to secure information and communications technology and services supply chains (CPR, Jan. 14, 2025).
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