Washington, June 3 (IANS) A senior US lawmaker has raised concerns over a Commerce Department decision allowing a foreign automaker with significant ties to China to continue selling and producing connected vehicles in the United States. This could expose sensitive data, undermine national security safeguards and create loopholes in restrictions aimed at keeping Chinese technology out of the American auto market, Representative Debbie Dingell, a Michigan Democrat, warned. In a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, he questioned a recent authorisation granted by the Office of Information and Communications Technology and Services (OICTS) despite the administration's connected vehicle security restrictions. "The Department of Commerce finalized these rules because connected vehicle technologies present clear national security risks," Dingell wrote. She said modern connected vehicles are capable of collecting and transmitting large amounts of sensitive information, including geolocation data, driving patterns, infrastructure mapping, operational diagnostics and personal consumer information. "These systems can enable remote access to vehicle functions. As the Department itself recognized, these technologies are vulnerable to exploitation by our adversaries and could be leveraged for surveillance, intelligence gathering, or disruption of critical infrastructure," she said. Dingell argued that the authorisation appears to create a pathway for companies with substantial ownership, operational or governance ties to the People's Republic of China (PRC) to continue accessing the US market despite the intent of the connected vehicle rule. "This authorization appears to create a pathway for entities with substantial ownership, operational, or governance ties to the PRC to continue accessing our market despite the intent of the underlying connected vehicle rule," she wrote. The congresswoman said Congress and successive administrations have recognised that Chinese companies operate under laws that can compel cooperation with Beijing and its intelligence services. "These concerns cannot be mitigated simply through corporate restructuring, branding distinctions, or supply chain adjustments,"