WASHINGTON, May 8 (Reuters) - The U.S. could take

"extreme action" and ban Chinese connected vehicles or impose

restrictions on them, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on

Wednesday, in the first indication a ban could be on the table

after a national security investigation.

The Commerce Department is reviewing public comments that

were due by April 30, Raimondo told Reuters, on a probe the

Biden administration launched in February into whether Chinese

vehicle imports pose national security risks.

"We have to digest all the data and then figure out what

action that we want to take," Raimondo said without detailing a

timeline. "We could take extreme action, which is to say no

Chinese connected vehicles in the United States or look for

mitigation" including safeguards, guardrails or other

requirements.

The White House said in February the Commerce probe was

being opened because vehicles "collect large amounts of

sensitive data on their drivers and passengers (and) regularly

use their cameras and sensors to record detailed information on

U.S. infrastructure."

White House officials told reporters in February it

was too early to say what action

might be taken on connected Chinese vehicles.

Raimondo said at a U.S. House of Representatives hearing

she was concerned about Chinese connected vehicles that "could

be collecting massive amounts of data on Americans, who they

are, what they say in their car, where they go to, their

patterns of driving." She added the United States needs "to take

the threat much more seriously" of Chinese connected vehicles

and other tech issues.

President Joe Biden has repeatedly said he will take action

to prevent a flood of Chinese vehicle imports.

There are relatively few Chinese-made light duty vehicles

being imported into the United States.

In comments to the Commerce Department, automakers

highlighted it may be difficult to overhaul their technology

systems to ease national security concerns.

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a trade group

representing General Motors ( GM ), Toyota ( TM ), Volkswagen

and nearly all major automakers, said in an April 30

filing automakers are committed to developing a framework for

information and communications technology and services systems

in connected vehicles that appropriately mitigates the risks

associated with Chinese designed systems.

But they warned vehicle systems "including their

hardware and software components, undergo extensive

pre-production engineering, testing, and validation processes

and, in general, cannot be easily swapped with systems or

components from a different supplier."

The government of South Korea in a separate filing said

the Korean automotive industry "expresses concerns about the

broad scope of the investigation into connected vehicle supply

chains, uncertainties surrounding the scope of potential

regulatory targets and the timing of the implementation, all of

which may lead to significant burdens on the industry."

Senate Banking Committee Sherrod Brown said on Wednesday

he had urged Commerce in a filing "to ban all Chinese

internet-connected vehicles and smart vehicle technology that is

designed, developed, manufactured, or supplied from China."

The Biden administration is separately considering imposing

new tariffs on Chinese-made vehicles and officials face new

pressure to restrict Chinese electric vehicle imports from

Mexico.

The Chinese foreign ministry in March said Chinese cars

were popular globally not because of "so-called unfair

practices" but because they had emerged out of fierce market

competition and were technologically innovative.

In November, a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers raised

alarms about Chinese companies collecting and handling sensitive

data while testing autonomous vehicles in the United States.