OnStar

[hre814]

I know that the 4Runner doesn't come with OnStar but for those considering subscribing to it in one of your other vehicles or already do subscribe, consider this:

Recently someone was carjacked and killed at the scene. Law enforcement contact OnStar to locate the car soon after they responded to the scene. OnStar would not give them the information without a court order or the dead man's permission. Later on, they finally folded, and the car had been abandoned and the killer was now gone. I don't know how anyone could give them their money when they do things like this? I'm glad they protected their privacy laws and now some crazy SOB murdered is out on the streets.

I personally can't support companies like this.

 

[CVsGX470]

Hmmm interesting. A real gray spot there.

I would only interject by saying that OnStar is not all it is cracked up to be. Take unlocking your doors for example. My buddy waited 2 hours before they could open his doors when he locked his keys in the car. It is not as instant as the commercials show. Don't get me wrong, if my air bags go off it would be nice if the authorities were notified immediately. However, if it takes 2 hours to contact them, what is the point of paying the fees.
CV

 

[hre814]

I agree with that statement as well. I have never seen the point. I belong to AAA and can probably get a response from a local shop for keys locked in the car just as fast as that example you gave.

 

[Paul d]

my other car is an 2002 impalla with onstar and honstly ive never had any problems with onstar..
ive had them unlock my doors a few times.. dumb friend locked keys in the trunk.. everytime it hapend the doors were opened while i was still on the phone with them.

one time they even opened the door while i was in the middle of the mountains.. same thing hapened.. buddy locked keys in truck.. had no cell phone reception.. but someone had some sorta GPS phone or somthing.. called onstar doors unlocked in 2 minutes...

so personally i love onstar
but that just me

 

[boston_kevin]

never had an issue with OnStar

my other vehicle is a GMC Yukon. Never had any trouble with OnStar. Had them unlock my car twice while I was on the phone with them standing beside the car. Took all of 5 minutes (if that). No issues locating the vehicle (when I have called them to locate and verify the GPS coordinates).

As far as that story, I'd be a little suspicious.... OnStar uses the same system as the satelite and cell phone service identifiers. If an authorized call is made to OnStar from the Police, they will track the vehicle and they can disable the vehicle remotely. If a caller tries to locate the vehicle and doesn't have the account number and personal information or is not authorized, they will not give you any information.

Airbag notifications are immediate (see another post about a traffic accident involving a cow) as are other critical notifications from the system.

OnStar is not for everyone, nor is LoJack. Remember, for LoJack, the owner has to report the car as being stolen, the police do not know which cars have LoJack until the enter the owner's information.

All of these systems have limitations, and the more users on each system, the more apparent the limitations will be.

 

[DaveS]

Re: never had an issue with OnStar

OnStar is not for everyone, nor is LoJack. Remember, for LoJack, the owner has to report the car as being stolen, the police do not know which cars have LoJack until the enter the owner's information.

All of these systems have limitations, and the more users on each system, the more apparent the limitations will be.

I believe LoJack has some sort of add-on that will notify them your car appears to have been taken without permission without your calling it in.

 

[Northof49]

Meh, I'm living fine without any of that stuff.....if you lock the keys in a 4R with keyless....and which won't let you lock the doors with the key in the ignition....you deserve the tow truck bill

I don't need no po-lice trackin my shit down hehe

 

[gRunner3]

If that original story is true, it is just a sad case of the legal mess we have to deal with now-a-days. It wouldn't make sense not to let the cops know where the vehicle is, but if it weren't for all the lawsuites over the stupidest things they would go ahead and give that information. But with sue-happy people crawling all over the place, you are forced to make those kind of desicions sometimes.

 

[olliebear]

simple solution.....

If that original story is true, it is just a sad case of the legal mess we have to deal with now-a-days. It wouldn't make sense not to let the cops know where the vehicle is, but if it weren't for all the lawsuites over the stupidest things they would go ahead and give that information. But with sue-happy people crawling all over the place, you are forced to make those kind of desicions sometimes.

On-star could have in their agreements that in an emergency, the owner will have given implied consent for Onstar to relay information to the police or emergency services such as fire and rescue. The owner will hold Onstar harmless and releases all liabilities arising from communicaiton with emergency or police personnel.

To prevent anyone from posing as police, Onstar can call back to the police department/fire or rescue who can verify if Officer Joe Glazed Donut is acutually on call and needs the information.

Now how simple can that be?

 

[hre814]

seems pretty reasonable to me.

 

[gRunner3]

That does sound reasonable. The gray area is that OnStar may still be liable because an "emergency" is not well defined. In this situation, the owner is already dead so its not like his life is in peril or anything. So OnStar would probably have to specifically define every instance that could be categorized as an emergency to protect themselves.

Or, better yet, they should just have in their contract that they will provide information to any law enforcement agency at their whim -- owner's consent is not needed. That would hopefully prevent something crazy like this from happening again.