Louisiana GPS Tracking Laws: Is It Legal to Put a Tracker on a Car? (2026)

Louisiana takes a different approach to GPS tracking than most states. Instead of asking whose car the tracker is attached to, Louisiana law asks who is being tracked. Using any tracking device to follow another person without their consent is a crime under La. R.S. 14:323.

That one design choice matters. It means the statute reaches an AirTag slipped into a purse just as easily as a GPS unit bolted under a bumper.

Louisiana also broke new ground in 2025 with a law forcing carmakers to cut off an abuser's remote access to a connected car's location data. This guide covers all of it in plain English. It is part of our GPS Tracking Laws by State series.

Is It Legal to Put a GPS Tracker on a Car in Louisiana?

It is legal to track your own vehicle. It is a crime to use a tracking device to follow another person who has not consented, unless you fit one of the narrow exceptions written into the statute.

Most state tracking laws are property-focused: they punish attaching a device to a vehicle you do not own. Louisiana's law is person-focused. La. R.S. 14:323 says no person shall use a tracking device to determine the location or movement of another person without that person's consent.

Owning the car still matters. The statute contains an exception for the owner, lessor, or lessee of a motor vehicle who consents to a tracking device on that vehicle, which is what makes fleet tracking and rental-car telematics legal. But ownership is not a blank check, as you will see below.

One thing the law does not contain is a cheating-spouse exception. Suspicion of infidelity does not create a legal right to track anyone. If your spouse's car is titled in their name alone and they have not consented, planting a tracker is a misdemeanor, and repeating the behavior can become stalking.

Louisiana's Tracking Device Law (La. R.S. 14:323)

The statute defines a tracking device as any device that reveals its location or movement by the transmission of electronic signals. That covers hardwired GPS units, plug-in OBD trackers, magnetic battery-powered trackers, phone-based location apps, and Bluetooth item finders such as Apple AirTags and Tile tags.

The core prohibition is short: do not use one of these devices to track another person without consent.

The statute then lists who is allowed to track:

• The owner, lessor, or lessee of a vehicle who consents to the device, including rental and fleet companies
• Law enforcement acting under a court order, or during an ongoing criminal investigation while keeping a contemporaneous written record of the tracking
• A parent or legal guardian of a minor child, with an important limit covered below
• The Department of Public Safety and Corrections supervising offenders
• Commercial mobile radio service providers, meaning your cell carrier's network-based location features
• Commercial motor carriers tracking their trucks
• Employers tracking cellular devices they provide to employees, when the devices are used within the scope of employment

Who Can Legally Track Someone in Louisiana?

Parents and guardians. A parent or legal guardian may track their own minor child. But if the parents are separated or divorced, both parents must consent to the tracking unless one parent has been awarded sole custody.

That rule is a trap in custody disputes. Putting a tracker in your child's backpack during your ex's custody time, without your ex's agreement, falls outside the exception unless you have sole custody. Family courts also take a dim view of using a child as a surveillance tool.

The protective-order override. This is the part of Louisiana's law that catches people off guard. The owner-consent exception and the parental exception both stop applying when a protective order or temporary restraining order is in effect against the would-be tracker, or when a court has granted the other party exclusive use of the vehicle.

In other words, an abusive spouse who co-owns the family car loses the ownership defense the moment a protective order issues. If you need one, our guide to Louisiana restraining order laws explains the process.

Police. State law lets officers track under a court order or during an ongoing criminal investigation with a written record. The constitutional floor is higher: in United States v. Jones (2012), the U.S. Supreme Court held that attaching a GPS device to a vehicle and monitoring its movements is a Fourth Amendment search, so police generally need a warrant.

Can My Employer Track My Car in Louisiana?

If the company owns the vehicle, yes. The owner exception covers business fleets, and commercial motor carriers get their own express exception. GPS on company trucks and vans is standard and legal.

Employer-issued phones sit in a middle ground. The statute permits an employer to track a cellular device it provides to an employee when the device is used within the scope of employment. Using that same phone to monitor where you spend your weekends pushes outside the exception.

Your personal car is your own. An employer who hides a tracker on an employee's personal vehicle without consent commits the same misdemeanor as anyone else.

AirTags and Item Trackers

Because La. R.S. 14:323 targets tracking a person rather than trespassing on property, it fits item trackers cleanly. Dropping an AirTag into someone's bag, coat pocket, or car console to follow their movements is using a tracking device on a non-consenting person. The statute does not care that the tag cost $29 or that it never touched a vehicle.

If your iPhone or Android phone alerts you that an unknown tracker is traveling with you, take it seriously. Repeated tracking that places someone in fear can also be charged as stalking under La. R.S. 14:40.2, and tracking that crosses state lines can trigger the federal stalking statute, 18 U.S.C. 2261A.

Louisiana regulates other forms of monitoring too. See our guides to Louisiana recording laws and surveillance camera laws for the audio and video rules.

Penalties for Illegal GPS Tracking in Louisiana

Penalties under La. R.S. 14:323 escalate with each conviction:

Courts can impose the fine, the jail time, or both.

These are misdemeanor-level penalties, but they rarely travel alone. Prosecutors often pair a tracking charge with stalking under La. R.S. 14:40.2, which carries 30 days to a year in jail plus a mandatory psychiatric evaluation on a first conviction, with far harsher penalties when a protective order is violated or the victim is a minor.

Connected Cars and Domestic Violence Survivors (the 2025 Law)

This is Louisiana's most distinctive contribution to tracking law. Acts 2025, No. 225 (House Bill 74) passed both chambers unanimously and took effect August 1, 2025.

Modern vehicles ship with factory telematics: companion apps that show the car's live location, remote-start the engine, or unlock the doors. Abusers were exploiting those apps to stalk partners who fled in the family car, and survivors had no way to make the manufacturer shut the access off.

Act 225 fixed that. It added a new subsection to R.S. 14:323 and created a new chapter in Title 46 requiring vehicle manufacturers that offer connected services to terminate or disable an abuser's remote access, including location tracking, when a survivor of domestic abuse, sexual assault, or stalking submits a request.

If this is your situation, contact your vehicle manufacturer's connected-services support line, say you are making a request under Louisiana's 2025 survivor law, and provide the documentation they ask for. Pair the request with a protective order where possible.

Civil Options: Suing Over GPS Tracking

La. R.S. 14:323 is a criminal statute and does not create its own private right to sue. Louisiana plaintiffs are not left empty-handed, though.

Louisiana Civil Code article 2315 is the state's broad tort article: every act of man that causes damage to another obliges the person at fault to repair it. Invasion of privacy claims, including intrusion on seclusion by covert tracking, are brought under it.

Louisiana's constitution helps too. Article I, Section 5 expressly protects every person against unreasonable invasions of privacy, language most state constitutions lack.

One practical note for divorce cases: location evidence gathered through illegal tracking can backfire badly, creating criminal exposure and credibility damage instead of a litigation advantage.

What to Do If You Find a Tracker on Your Car

1. Leave it in place at first. The device, its serial number, and its position are all evidence.
2. Photograph everything. Take pictures of the tracker where you found it before touching it.
3. Call local police or the sheriff's office. Reference La. R.S. 14:323. Item trackers like AirTags can often be traced to the registered owner.
4. If you suspect an abusive partner, plan for safety first. Removing a tracker tells the person watching that you found it. Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233 before acting.
5. Consider a protective order. Beyond its core protections, a protective order strips the abuser of the statute's owner-consent defense.
6. For a connected car, invoke the 2025 law. Ask the manufacturer to terminate the abuser's remote access under Act 225.

Louisiana GPS Tracking FAQ

Sources

The primary sources for this article, including the official text of La. R.S. 14:323 on the Louisiana Legislature's website, are listed below.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Laws change and their application depends on specific facts. If you are facing a GPS tracking issue in Louisiana, consult a licensed Louisiana attorney. If you are in danger, call 911 or the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233.