What say the forum.

All I can relate is the one experience I had when I really needed OnStar to meet the expectations they promise in their commercials.

Was coming home across I-94 in Indiana. Had a catastrophic blow-out. Called OnStar. I had to tell them where I was because they couldn't locate me. So much for them knowing where you are if you have a collision that takes you out. There we sat, in the blazing hot sun, with traffic whizzing by us, for 30-40 minutes while they... hell, I don't know what they were doing, but, when they came back they told me they had to transfer me to road service. That put me on hold for another twenty minutes. Had to tell them where we were. Then went back on hold while they sought someone to come out, only to find out they couldn't.

That's right: I was on a major expressway, near an exit ramp, not at all far from civilization, and OnStar could not find someone to come out for road assistance. And it ended-up taking about an hour-and-a-half to get to that point.

"Did I want them to try again?" "Never mind," I replied, "I'll call AAA." I did, and they had a truck out there in about twenty minutes.

So, no: I think it's a waste of money.

(I needed road assistance because some joker had, at some point, replaced the proper lug nut wrench with the wrong one, so I couldn't get the lug nuts off. Later found that's not uncommon in used vehicles. I would never have guessed.)

Oh yeah: And after I subsequently cancelled OnStar my wife's looking through the CC bill and asks "I thought you cancelled OnStar?" "I did." "We're still getting charged." Called and cancelled again. They promised they'd remove the additional charges. They did not. Had to call them again.

OnStar has been around for a long time, arguably GM's most valuable asset. Now that GPS and mobile communications is much more common and varied, as smartphones have been out for 15+ years, not sure its any more unique than what else is available.

If you're a senior and you're not too hip to modern technology/conveniences, I can see it as a nice feature: single-button push, talk to an operator for service.

I'm not a fan for my personal use

However, I have it in my daughters car. I trust the emergency services and the maintenance alerts are a plus. It will tell me if she's riding on a low tire, engine light on or if she's skipped an oil change. Peace of mind

It works great for fleets too, tracking services, speed regulation, keeping up with maintenance

Something you don’t really have to have – normally. But very worthwhile in the event of a serious auto crash that might leave you unconscious. With GPS they’d likely be able to send medical help pronto.

I have the similar Bluelink for my 2018 Hyundai Sonata – free for three years. I have the Bluelink app on my iPhone. Remote car starting (God, that would’ve been great when I lived in MN). Can open my car door and start the engine even if I lose my key. Or sound the horn if you can’t locate your car in a big parking lot.

I’m not worried that they might track me.

When I was working LE, dispatch would get 3 or 4 calls a month from Onstar (or similar outfits) saying they had indications of a crash involving high energies and airbag deployments, before any 911 calls were received concerning the incident. A couple of times I remember attending calls to find the vehicle off the road in a ditch or culvert with the occupiers still in it and unable to reach their phones because during the crash they had been thrown under the seat or out the window. Had Onstar not called us, it could have been a long wait before anyone saw them or called it in.

I wouldn't use it

If I recall, the FBI has a backdoor into every OnStar account and they can turn on the microphone and listen in to anything going on without your knowledge or consent

I also recall where they disabled a car while it was being driven

seems too much like big brother to me

quote:

the FBI has a backdoor into every OnStar account and they can turn on the microphone and listen in to anything going on without your knowledge or consent

With a warrant.

I don't think Cliff will need to worry about that.

your faith in the FBI is stronger than mine - they don't seem to think twice about fabricating cause, lying to judges and suppressing evidence...why let a little thing like a warrant hold them back...

quote:

Originally posted by nhtagmember:
your faith in the FBI is stronger than mine - they don't seem to think twice about fabricating cause, lying to judges and suppressing evidence...why let a little thing like a warrant hold them back...

To eavesdrop on Cliff? What do you think they're hoping to hear?

The pros far outweigh the cons.

C'mon man, let some reality in!

its not about Cliff - its the technology that has been perverted from its intended use

the contract was between the vehicle owner and OnStar - apparently the FBI wasn't content to let that go without any abuse

I think the technology should be abandoned as a 'nice try' and remove one more way the FBI can fuck over the public from their bag of dirty tricks

in Cliff's case, I still don't see the utility of OnStar if he has a cellphone

quote:

Originally posted by nhtagmember:
in Cliff's case, I still don't see the utility of OnStar if he has a cellphone

If what you assert is true: Do you suppose OnStar can't activate that microphone at will, without an OnStar service contract, at three-letter-agency's behest?

I was chatting with a friend in front of his hangar. His keys were on the seat of his Escalade. We were a few feet from the car, neither of us touched anything, we heard a "click," and his doors had locked. Weird!

He pulled his phone out of his pocket, called Onstar, they asked a couple of questions to verify his identity, and unlocked the vehicle for him.

quote:

in Cliff's case, I still don't see the utility of OnStar if he has a cellphone

Cellphones are great if you

a) Have it with you, and you can reach it

b) It didn't pull the eject handle and vanish when you had the crash.

I have been to several crashes where the victim's cellphone ended up under the back seat somewhere or sailed into the wide blue yonder on impact.

Ever been hunting out in the middle of nowhere and locked the only set of keys in the car? I have. I borrowed a cell phone from another hunter and called Onstar, they verified ID and then remotely unlocked it. All of two minutes versus two hours and locksmith bill.

quote:

Originally posted by Sailor1911:
Ever been hunting out in the middle of nowhere and locked the only set of keys in the car? I have. I borrowed a cell phone from another hunter and called Onstar, they verified ID and then remotely unlocked it. All of two minutes versus two hours and locksmith bill.

Ha! I was just about to post something very similiar. I won't tell how many times I've had to call Onstar during hunting season to unlock my truck.

I have a Jeep, which has a similar system - U-Connect. Every car company has its own variation.

On the plus side, the emergency call system (e.g., 911) will work even if I am not a subscriber. But I also have a cell phone.

I've got AAA and would prefer to use that for vehicle recovery. I believe all of the car companies' versions of On-Star use essentially the same network of towing companies, so why pay for it twice? AAA has been a good deal for me in the couple of times we've had dead batteries - they show up within 30 minutes with a charge.

Whether you activate (subscribe) to the system in your car or not, the cell phone that is the core of the system continues to register with the cell network -- giving law enforcement (and finance/credit companies) the ability to locate where you are and where you have been - and to activate the microphone. I don't like this much but I don't worry about it. I guess if I were really concerned, I would figure out how to disable that cell phone (which would be legal, unless there was some fine print in the financing contract).

As the states start to look at taxing people per-mile driven, systems like these will be used to assess mileage. I suppose they could also be used by insurance companies or the police to monitor driving speeds, braking patterns, etc. The potential for intrusive monitoring of what we used to consider private activities is significant, no doubt, but most of that has not been realized yet. We'll see how that goes in the future.

Bottom line: if you can afford it, it might be useful and sometimes amusing. If you don't have the money for something of marginal utility, make a spare door key for your wallet in case you lock your ignition key inside, and rely on your cell phone for everything else.

If you're worried about privacy, better toss the cell phone out and get off the internet because they're already monitoring all of that as it is. I only have the service that lets me lock/unlock/start the truck from my phone. It also grades my driving. Back at the height of the stay at home BS when I was still going to work it was fun to see how many hard accelerations it logged.

The man can look at you if the man wants to look at you. However I'm not sure why the man would much care about you. Just my vaguely educated ideas on the topic.

Its not worth the $ /mnth for the extremely remote chance that you are creamed and you/your car disapears into a black hole.

Everything else is free for 5 years with the free my chevrolet app mobile; remote unlock , car diagnostics etc....

Have owned several gm products and always let it expire wthout paying $ to GM.