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Personal reference
Each vehicle is given a unique vehicle identi-
fication number. In Germany, for example,
this vehicle identification number can be
traced back to the current and former owners
of the vehicle using information provided by
the Federal Motor Transport Authority (Kraft-
fahrtbundesamt ). There are also other ways
of tracing the vehicle to the owner or driver,
via data collected for the vehicle e.g. the reg-
istration number.
The data generated or processed by control
units may therefore be personal data or un-
der certain conditions is personal data. De-
pending on the vehicle data available, it may
be possible to draw conclusions, e.g. about
your driving behaviour, your location or your
route or your usage behaviour.
Your rights regarding data protection
In accordance with applicable data protection
law, you have certain rights vis-à-vis Volks-
wagen when your personal data is processed.
Accordingly, you are entitled to receive com-
prehensive information free of charge from
Volkswagen and third parties, e.g. breakdown
services or workshops used and providers of
online services in the vehicle if they have
stored your personal data. You are entitled to
request information concerning what person-
al data and for what purpose it is stored as
well as where the data originates from. Your
right to information also includes the transfer
of data to other bodies.
Further information on your legal rights, e.g.
your right to have your data deleted or cor-
rected, can be found in the applicable data
protection information on the Volkswagen
website including the contact details and
a reference to the data protection officer.
Data that is only stored locally in the vehicle
can be read out for a fee with expert assis-
tance, e.g. in a workshop.
Legal requirements for the disclosure of data
If legal requirements exist, Volkswagen is ob-
liged to disclose data stored at Volkswagen
to the extent required to government agen-
cies in individual cases, e.g. as part of a police
investigation of a criminal offence.
Within the framework of applicable law, gov-
ernment agencies are also authorised to read
data from vehicles themselves in individual
cases. In the event of an accident, informa-
tion can be read from the airbag control unit
to help clarify the situation.
Operating data in the vehicle
Control units process data to operate the ve-
hicle.
These include, for example:
— Vehicle status information, e.g. speed, de-
celeration, lateral acceleration, number of
wheel revolutions and display of closed
seat belts.
— Ambient conditions, e.g. temperature, rain
and light sensor, adaptive cruise control.
As a rule, this data is volatile and is not stored
beyond the operating time and is only pro-
cessed in the vehicle itself. Control units of-
ten contain data storage devices. These are
used to document information regarding the
vehicle status, component load levels, main-
tenance requirements, technical events and
faults on a temporary or permanent basis.
Depending on the technical equipment, the
following data is stored:
— Operating states of system components,
e.g. filling levels, tyre pressure, status of
the vehicle battery.
— Faults or malfunctions in important sys-
tem components, e.g. lights, brakes.
— System reactions to specific driving situa-
tions, e.g. triggering of an airbag, inter-
vention of the stability control systems.
— Information on events which damaged the
vehicle.
In special cases, e.g. when the vehicle has de-
tected a malfunction, it may be necessary to
store data that would normally only be vola-
tile.
If you make use of services, e.g. repairs or
maintenance work, the stored operating data
can, if necessary, be read and used together
Data storage and services
367
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