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Texas GOP chair Abraham George warns of privacy risks in car kill-switch
George is backed by prominent Republican Congress members from Texas, including Representatives Brandon Gill and Chip Roy.
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Jeffin T. Kaleekal - Thu, 30, Apr 2026
- 03:44 EDT
- 31
Abraham George / Texas GOP
Texas GOP state Chairman Abraham George has backed the Republican push against the federal “kill-switch” mandate for new cars, urging Texans to call their representatives in the U.S. Congress.
During the Biden administration era, in 2021, the HALT Drunk Driving Act was passed as part of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
The law mandated all car manufacturers install anti-drunken-driving technology in new cars within five years after passage. What this essentially means is that cars would be able to independently verify whether the driver is inebriated and subsequently limit vehicle operation.
The law was passed by the House and the Senate and then signed into law. However, it is currently in limbo as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has failed to come up with rules related to the law and has crossed the five-year deadline it was given.
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While Democrats claim that the monitoring and subsequent “kill-switch” deployment would be done remotely and does not provide for external control, Republicans argue that this provision would allow the state to control vehicle operation and give the government the ability to stop cars externally.
Highlighting his concerns, George remarked on X, “There’s a federal mandate moving that could put monitoring technology inside your vehicle, and give Washington more control than it should ever have.”
He continued, “I don’t believe that belongs in Texas, and I bet you don’t either.”
There’s a federal mandate moving that could put monitoring technology inside your vehicle, and give Washington more control than it should ever have.
— Abraham George (@abrahamgeorge) April 29, 2026
I don’t believe that belongs in Texas, and I bet you don’t either.
We still have a window to stop it, but only if Texans speak… pic.twitter.com/2XkqWB7MyU
George’s claim is backed by prominent Republican Congress members from Texas, including Representatives Brandon Gill, Troy Nehls, Chip Roy and Randy Weber.
Urging action, George said, “We still have a window to stop it, but only if Texans speak up.”
He added, “It takes less than a minute to take a stand against this extreme privacy overreach. We have an opportunity to fight this, but it only works if you make the call.”
As the law stands today, there is no provision for external control since the “kill-switch” system is passive and does not communicate with external devices.
However, the Republican counter to this is that all new cars are already equipped with communication and connectivity devices. Therefore, they claim, it’s a small leap from cars having passive “kill-switches” to them being upgraded or hacked later to allow remote disabling. Modern connected cars already communicate with manufacturer servers, raising privacy and hacking concerns.
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