hoghntrpa

I have heard that if you were to be driving at excessive speeds (hypothetically of course) and a nice policeman was following you, that he can call in your plate to On Star and they can shut down your Camaro even if you don't subscribe to On Star. Has anyone else heard of this? Is this true? Is there any way to safely disconnect the On Star antenna so this couldn't be done? Of course, I would never exceed the posted speed limit. Just curious.

2010_5thgen

i have heard of this. ive also heard they can activate the phone system to listen in on your convo. now, they will never admit to this being used and im sure they will always deny, but the technology is there to do it. i never reactivated my onstar because of this fact. i need to find out how to disconnect it. so if you do find out how,,,,,post it up.

skuttduck

The stolen vehicle shutdown is not available on the v6.

jcamere94z28

they probably wouldn't do it... because.. of liability issues.
they probably wouldn't tap into your conversation because they would get sued.

I don't think it's OnStar best interest to "spy" on us but then again I did not read all the Fineprint of buying a car with OnStar and to be honest I don't care...

2010_5thgen

that doesnt mean they still cant shut your car down.

2010_5thgen

they wont get sued if they dont get caught. same thing goes with regular land lines and cell phones. they tap into phone calls all the time. they randomly tap phone calls whenever the president travels anywhere in the US.

DAKMOR

http://rpidesigns.com/images/camaroantenna.jpg

break this piece off with a hammer if you are that paranoid.

did you know that your car has a computer and could theoretically record all your inputs like steering and throttle/brake usage? that computer coudl then be read by the insurance company, theortically, and determine if your caused an accident, theoritically, and charge you more.

Theoritically.

skuttduck

Yeah that worked so well in this instance.

[autostream]http://autostream.com/camaroz28/?page_type=firebirdplayerthumbnail&framepage=1369& transactionid=1310063080-359193251&posted_by=skuttduck_www.camaroz28.com&yo utube_video_id=LQkYNNBHVNs[/autostream]

Loonies

Those are there for serious/fatal accidents and most police departments have the tools to retrieve the data.

2010_5thgen

thats what they do on nissan GTR's. when you take it in for any maintanance, they check the "little black box" and check your driving history to see if you did htings not covered by the warranty.

2010_5thgen

did they call it in to onstar to have them shut the car off? it doesnt work if you dont call into them. the cop cant magically say "turn off" and the motor shuts off. those are some pretty bad cops. they couldnt even break the glass....

JasonD

Has anyone ever heard of this actually happening? I haven't.

I don't think this is true. It may be true for extreme circumstances...but nothing that I would even consider worrying about myself. I would worry about it only if you plan to do something that will give them a reason to try to stop/shut down your car.

King Moose SS

Yessir, touch that launch control on a pre-2011 GT-R, and ALL your powertrain warranty's are done.

It's the fact that they COULD do it. While many may think it's just being paranoid, I don't like the fact that someone COULD potentially shut-down my vehicle. I've never had OnStar and I will never use OnStar, I should have the option to have it permanently deleted from my car if I choose to.

JasonD

A police officer COULD just shoot you dead after pulling up next to you at a stoplight, too....with no digital record of it. So could I. So could anyone else.

The only thing I know that they can do that is similar is "Stolen Car Slowdown", which I belive you can opt out of.
http://www.onstar.com/web/portal/sva...cle_Assistance
I have never heard of them shutting a car down for kicks just because the police said so. That is what I am asking...has it really happened?

Keep in mind, OnStar is no small operation, there is a tremendous amount of risk involved in their actions. Their Privacy Policy is here:
http://www.onstar.com/web/portal/privacy
If it was discovered that they deviating from that recklessly, the backlash would hurt them quite a bit, and I think they know their investors wouldn't appreciate that very much.

That is if you believe that is the extent to it. I believe you can disable it entirely (maybe just a fuse pull?) but I haven't looked into how. I understand that people don't like it and I cannot suggest otherwise, but I think it would be something to worry about more if it was a concern based on actual incidences. Just IMO...

2010_5thgen

just because you havent heard of a story from a direct person doesnt mean it cant or hasnt happened. and im sure its not going to be all over the news" ONSTAR shuts down motor!"