OnStar

[Drew L]

without a doubt, the most annoying ads on the radio. Now I do understand the purpose/service it provides but the reaction by some of these people featured in the ads is hard to believe. In one of the ads the OnStar dispatcher asks, "Are you injured?" (following air bag deployment) and the women says, "I don't know..............."


how can you not know if you are or are not injured?


From asking for directions, locking keys in the car to the SES light on. Maybe GM put the biggest dummies on the radio they could.......I don't know

 

[j13smiley]

all it is... is big brother easing his way into the life of the sheeple. how much longer before they give you speeding tickets on-the-fly and crap like that?

 

[Strahd_Zarovich]

This is why I will never buy a new car. Anthing before '96 for me. They are getting way to many ways to keep up with my life.

 

[BLACK6PACK]

Smack into a telephone pole, deploy the airbags into your face and have someone ask you right away if you're ok. Most people who have their bell rung don't know what country their in let alone if they are hurt.

If I had a wife and kids, they'd definately have onstar. For me, I'm kinda like the rest of the guys. I don't want to be plugged into big brother.

 

[turbofish38]

Smack into a telephone pole, deploy the airbags into your face and have someone ask you right away if you're ok. Most people who have their bell rung don't know what country their in let alone if they are hurt.

If I had a wife and kids, they'd definately have onstar. For me, I'm kinda like the rest of the guys. I don't want to be plugged into big brother.

Yeah I was just going to say that. BTW you can buy a GM vehicle with out OnStar or just not activate it. Either way Big Brother can still see what is recorded on the PCM and BCM. I wouldn't worry about it though. I'm still waiting to hear or read about people who have been in an accident or some crime having thier black boxes seized for evidence to be used against them in a trial. Of course I'll change my opinion when Big Brother starts issuing search warrants to check them out.

 

[AZ Vic]

Yeah I was just going to say that. BTW you can buy a GM vehicle with out OnStar or just not activate it. Either way Big Brother can still see what is recorded on the PCM and BCM. I wouldn't worry about it though. I'm still waiting to hear or read about people who have been in an accident or some crime having thier black boxes seized for evidence to be used against them in a trial. Of course I'll change my opinion when Big Brother starts issuing search warrants to check them out.

That's already happened... not sure where I read it exactly - I am pretty sure it was on thedieselpace.com forum. An insurance company went through the courts to obtain info from the black box after a fatal car crash. Don't remember the exact details, but they were able to get it against the owner's will. That box can tell how fast you were going, whether you applied the brakes, or gassed it, had your turn signal on, etc. etc....

I have also read where the feds have been able to get warrants to listen in through the onstar on private conversations. Not just phone calls, but actual conversations between two people in the vehicle, without them knowing it... like a bug. Even if your service is not active... It stems from that homeland security thing.

You can disconnect the onstar and the black box... but the black box is also tied into the air bags, so no black box - no air bags.


I really don't care if they listen in on me... I have nothing to hide. But I do not like my rights being imposed on one by one for a false sense of "security"


Oh, and I am on the same page as you Black6pack... having been there and through that, It takes a while sometimes days to realize, "yeah, I'm hurt..."



I would be willing to wager that it is only a matter of time before anyone can track where you go, what you say and how you did it.... just like the "spyware" that gets into our computers, and the companies that sell the info on your credit cards as to what you buy and where. I bet the insurance companies get there mits on it within the next ten years. Your insurance premiums go up for going 10 mph over the speed limit or driving aggressively...


Jeez, look at me... turned into a little rant sorry about that



Vic

 

[Drew L]

this is about the ads but I'll bite, There was a double fatal accident directly in fron of my house two years ago. What was the first thing the MA State police did?



you guessed it.........the cars computer

 

[Blown&Injected]

California recently passed a law making that info the property of the owner. Of course that info can be called for in the form of a subpoena.
I think they said all GM cars and trucks after 2000 have that data recorder.

Wonder if there is a zapper that could wipe out that info - kinda like how Clinton can make records disappear

 

[Splwubs GN]

Onstar is a joke. If you feel safe when the airbags deploy and someone asks you if your ok. LOL.. What a laugh. OK so u tell them no. OK well send someone out to you. MOST OF THE TIME it gives INCORRECT INFO as to where you are located. I am in law enforcement and what a joke onstar is. Ask your local dispatch and find out. Read law enforecment forums and ask about it to see how great it is.

From one forum
"I can tell you the few dealings I have had with on star did not go very well, I have had to take reports for 3 vehicles that had on star and it doesn't go as smooth as they show on commercials. 2 of the vehicles couldn't even be tracked and another took 45 minutes before they could start tracking it so it was already way outside DC. I guess for unlocking your doors or calling an ambulance it is good but so much for finding it once stolen."

ANd another
"We got a call of an Air bag deployment from onstar this past weekend, and they only had the vicinity of where the deployment was and no contact with the driver, we were dispatched originally 2 blocks away until a 911 caller told us the car in question was farther south and had someone pinned inside it. We got there with the new directions and had FD extricate the guy, but now I know why everyone hates onstar."
http://www.911jobforums.com/vB/showthread.php3?t=46817&highlight=onstar

LOL
they created me getting bounced around a squad trying to get to the call and taking our clover leafs code 3 at 60 busting tale up n down the highway, i thought for sure i was gunna get a concussion or car sickness before we got there..... the best part was that the onstar module had broken during the accident so at least i didn't have to hear them when i was in the car.

Well of course they did. That's the most important part.
We recovered a Lo-Jack last night on a 2004 Chevy Suburban and all we could say was good thing it didn't have onstar. No one here Likes onstar.

another
Yeah, I just took a call from them a few minutes ago. They gave me a state road number. We havent used road numbers in over 20 years. They need to update their system.
They werent too good with anything other than on this road, south of this other road. Not a big help. Kinda strange, the other times I talked to them, they gave me, fairly exact locations. Maybe I just got lucky on those calls.
Never did find this stupid car. Had a panic alarm go off, with no voice tranmissions inside the vehicle. Then get stuck on hold when trying to call them back.
I have changed my opinion of OnStar. I am not liking them so much.

ANother
I have a question about Onstar. If we have a report of an armed carjacking, with a victim doa on scene from gsw, WHY wont they give dispatchers/officers GPS on car jacked vehicle?!?!?! We actually had this happen recently. Onstar told us they could only give that information to the vehicle owner, and he was laying there DOA! Took 45 minutes to get the information, when if we got it when we asked, the liklyhood of actually apprehending the suspect was alot greater. As it was, the veh was found abandoned when we got the location. This is crazy!!!!!

This is all from Law enforcment forums. If you need to feel safe to hear a voice. ARE YOU OK.. Something is wrong with you. Do a google search of onstar and see what you get. Yeah the police did show up but most likely 5-15 more min later then what it should have been because of all the bad info.

 

[Splwubs GN]

Pulled from another forum.
I recently heard an OnStar commercial that just made me boil. Supposedly these commercials are made from "actual, taped conversations".

This female motorist activates her OnStar to get help because she just got stung by a bee and doesn't know what to do. She states to the call taker that she is not familiar with the area, has been stung by a bee and is very allergic. The call taker informs her that the nearest hospital is 14 MILES away and involves many turns, but he will stay with her until she makes it.

This is not the message the public should be getting. Even though allergic reaction and anaphylaxis are not the same, as a trained call taker you must assume the worst unless information dictates otherwise. I believe a far better course of action would have been to instruct the motorist to park as soon as safely possible, dispatch EMS, and stay on the line.

Of course we all learn from the actions of others but this is not an incident that should be presented as a good example of what to do right.
___
Now, what kind of a commercial would that make for "On Star"?? As, one could do that with a cell phone calling 911.
___
What if we film the accident when the driver loses consciousness? Wait, radio ad? film? Oops, guess that wouldn't work.

 

[Shane]

I agree with you guys about OnStar and the tracking. I'll never have an OBDII vehicle until they mandate it (which will probably happen).

I keep thinking about setting up an alias and using that for all those in store trackers barcodes they give you. I wonder if that's legal.

 

[turbofish38]

Here is another OnStar is joke story. The wife and I were out cruising on the MC and I'm running on fumes so I pull into a station on one of the I-95 off ramps. While were taking a pit stop there is brand new Escalade sitting there with the door open and I'm listening to OnStar give directions to some idiot from the Miami area. I was there 10 minutes listening because the directions where all the way from Miami to Daytona Beach. It was like another retard reading a bad MapQuest. I almost died from laughing so hard. The directions were for the long way around town instead of the short way,all by the main roads of course. I'm thinking what type of lawsuit would happen if it could be proven that OS provided the wrong directions causing that person to be a victim of a violent crime? Kind of like "I got off on the exit and I ended up in the hood where I got mugged and my truck was stolen". The only thing I really hate about those commercials is how they make you feel guilty if you dont have it. Personally the only use I have for something like that would be for roadside emergencies and I know I'll get better service if I call AAA or 911 myself. Of course this wont do me any good if I'm knocked out cold in the middle of the night when no one else is around. Plenty of pros and cons for OnStar.

 

[BLACK6PACK]

I've had AAA for almost 20 years and will probably always have it since I own older cars, but AAA and emergencies shouldn't be put in the same sentence. I don't think they've ever showed up in less than an hour, and it usually takes 4-5 phone calls and some complaining to get them to show up within 2 hours.