Posted on 10/09/2007 8:08:42 PM PDT by Eyes Unclouded
DETROIT (AP) — Say some clown steals your car from the parking deck at work. If it's equipped with General Motors' OnStar service, he could be in for a big surprise and you could get a little revenge — and even see your car again.
Starting with about 20 models for 2009, the service will be able to slowly halt a car that is reported stolen, and the radio may even speak up and tell the thief to pull over because police are watching.
OnStar already finds 700 to 800 cars per month using the global positioning system. With the new technology, which OnStar President Chet Huber said GM will apply to the rest of its lineup in future years, OnStar would call police and tell them a stolen car's whereabouts.
Then, if officers see the car in motion and judge it can be stopped safely, they can tell OnStar operators, who will send the car a signal via cell phone to slow it to a halt.
"This technology will basically remove the control of the horsepower from the thief," Huber said. "Everything else in the vehicle works. The steering works. The brakes work."
GM is still exploring the possibility of having the car give a recorded verbal warning before it stops moving. A voice would tell the driver through the radio speakers that police will stop the car, Huber said, and the car's emergency flashers would go on.
"If the thief does nothing else it will coast to a stop. But they can drive off to the side of the road," Huber said.
With the current version of OnStar, drivers can call operators for emergency help, and OnStar operators will contact a car if its sensors detect a crash. The service has about 5 million subscribers.
Those who want OnStar but don't like police having the ability to slow down their car can opt out of the service, Huber said. But he said their research shows that 95 percent of subscribers would like that feature.
OnStar, including the first year's subscription fee, is standard on most of GM's 2008 vehicles. After the first year, the subscription price is $16.95 a month or $199 annually for basic service, which is to include the stolen-vehicle slowdown feature when it's available.
GM would be willing to sell the technology to other automakers in an effort to cut police chases, Huber said.
The new technology likely gives OnStar and GM a leg-up on competitors that market vehicle tracking devices aimed at retrieving stolen vehicles, said Jack Nerad, executive market analyst for Kelley Blue Book in Irvine, Calif. He predicted being able to stop a stolen car would appeal to consumers.
"Once they hear it can be done, I think it will get considerable play," he said.
LoJack Corp., of Westwood, Mass., produces vehicle tracking devices that help authorities locate stolen vehicles but not communicate with them. And SPAL USA in Ankeny, Iowa, sells an anti-car-jacking system with a personal identification transmitter that prevents thieves from using the vehicle.
If it spreads, the technology could make dangerous police chases a thing of the past. Last year, 404 people were killed nationwide in crashes involving police pursuits, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
In California, for example, there were 7,633 police pursuits in 2006, leading to 27 deaths and 771 injuries, according to data from the California Highway Patrol. Those figures represented a decline from 2005, when California authorities were involved in 7,950 pursuits, which were linked to 32 deaths and 1,201 injuries.
Joe Farrow, deputy commissioner of the California Highway Patrol, said about 15 percent of the pursuits are at speeds of 90 miles per hour and greater. The OnStar system could help chases end safely, he said.
Farrow said his agency has sought public-private partnerships that could improve technologies used in police pursuits. The OnStar system was intriguing, he said.
"There are some high-speed chases that we have out here that we'd like to bring to a halt," he said.
Farrow said CHP officers are trained on pursuits every three months and the agency has worked to improve its chase policies.
OnStar's technology could evolve and perhaps make a stolen car impossible to start, Huber said.
"This isn't the last announcement you'll hear from us in this category," he said.
Except for when Big Brother doesn’t want you driving somewhere.
An incentive to kill the driver. I feel safer already.
Didn’t they have this for sometime?
Next we will see interactive speed signs.If you’re speeding ,the sign will transmit a disable signal to your car.A cop will be along to write you a ticket and re-activate your car so that you can continue on your way.
Instead of waiting for you to pull over they’ll just press the button and hold you there until they are ready to let you go. After all there is no “right” to use the roadways.
Onstar is a good system. It may be big brother watching, but if it is your own big brother..okay.
I suggested this to our own company for rental equipment with electronic controls. At the end of the rental period it gives you a signal to pay next month or I will stop.
One competitor that we had refused to deliver the software to a bankrupt customer..so his unit wouldn’t run. No pay..no play.
Unless they want to search your car and take body fluid samples, in which case your departure could be delayed.
Remeber when credit corporations were installing kill devices on vehicles and would activate it when you missed a payment? GMAC and OnStar hhhhmmmmmmmm.
Like no one saw this coming.......
Wait until you’re late on your property tax bill for your new SUV...and Da Man shuts it off until you pay up sucka!!!!!
Holy wrong number, Batman, I dialed 555-1213 but that car isn't slowing. (Meanwhile on the cross town expressway in a vehicle with the tag 555-1214, Joe Schmo was heard to say "what the heck is going on with my car!")
Great Britain Satellites on speeders (Motorcycles' engine to be cut off via satellite - cars next)
That’s all it’s going to lead to.
When insurance companies pay for these features, then I’ll know that they make economic sense.
i’ll believe it when i see it.
where i live cars are stolen routinely.
my pickup about seven weeks ago was stolen on a friday night.
i got it back on sunday afternoon, undamaged, fortunately.
an illegal called me to tell me where it was located; the police couldn’t find it because it was behind an apartment building.
the police said local teens often need to use a pickup to move something, and abandon it when they’re thru.
Why do you need a cop, general motors will gladly write you a ticket for a 10% cut, just like the camera goons, they'll just put a slot or key pad on your dash, when the proper amount of credits are received you can start speeding again.
EXACTly
OnStar is the reason I won’t even consider GM vehicles anymore. Too bad, because of all American car makers I used to like GM the best. Others had bad luck, for example, with the Chevy Citation, but mine worked just fine the whole time I had it.
There are too many encroachments on privacy as it is.
I don’t need another.
You will never regret getting a car with fins.
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