http://www.10news.com/holidays/17687347/detail.html#-

cliffs:
onstar vehicles starting in 2009 can be remote shut down




personally i don't give a crap how many people it saves per year, i don't want any sort of big brother to have the ability to turn off my car remotely on a whim. it claims you can "opt out" at any time but unless that involves physically removing hardware that is nothing but lip service.

 

I've heard you can just pull the OnStar fuse, is this correct?

 

Is this really any surprise to you? People have been talking about this possibility since OnStar's inception. I can see its advantages in certain scenarios, especially car theft, but I wouldn't really care for somebody to have that ability with my car.

 

i don't know about you guys.. but it doesn't bother me one bit. The can shut down the car and open the doors for you... and other things that come in handy one time or another.

* Someone steals your car? shut the car down...
* leave the car running and doors locked for some reason and YOU are outside? turn it off, open the doors...

I can specially see the last one begin very helpful if you have small kids. (new parent here)

If you are so paranoid... about that.. then I am sorry about what you are going to feel as we continue to use technology...

 

Any system of that nature can be hacked, and that hack can be sold. I can easily foresee a scenario where you are driving in a secluded area and all of a sudden your car gets shut down by the ill intentioned person who was following you. It is a valid concern.

 

put a static bag over the antenna.

Bluetooth & Nav > Onstar. I've used both, Onstar is obsolete technology.

 

if someone has the technology and knowledge to do that.. there might be bigger fish to hack and get more out of it... don't you think?

 

Unless for fun they want to send out the shut down command to every car in America a once. Cooperate sabotage? That would put the final nail in Onstar's coffin.

 

Does On-star only work with cell service? Because, in moutainous upstate NY, there are plenty of dead zones-

 

That was a huge reason why I bought my Fusion over the new Malibu. At the time, the hands free phone feature in OnStar was lame. And I wanted to see a map!

Now GM vehicles have bluetooth, but the nav screens are still hard to come by.

 

I won't care one bit if my isurance company gives me like a 25-35% discount.

 

Or you could just unplug the on* antenna, and plug it back in if you ever need the service.

I've used the turn by turn directions once. It was pretty cool, but as stated above, a visual representation would have been better.

 

it is cool, but a $150 Nav system does the same thing and has a map and no $28.90 monthly fee.

 

This assumes that you notice your car is stolen within a short period of time.
It also assumes that the thief does not disable OnStar

Is this even possible with new cars? Many new cars won't lock the driver's side door unless you use the remote. Why not build that - much cheaper and less intrusive that OnStar. And even if you should manage to lock the car with the engine running, the tow truck will come in 30 minutes to open it for you, and you've burned a little extra gas...

As a parent to be (January 16 ), let me give you a very strong advice - never, EVER, leave your kids in the car, especially with the engine running.

Technology is fine and dandy as long as I have control of it. I want to be able to turn off Bluetooth in my cellphone, or GPS, or Onstar in my car. I want to remove the possibility of someone else controlling something for me - whether it's shutting down the engine, or turning on my cell phone's microphone without me knowing.

And yes, i don't fall into the crowd of "If you've done nothing wrong, you've got nothing to hide."

 

Yes, but one can practice before he fries the bigger fish. One can also do it for fun, oh, same reason we have graffiti or script kiddies. Or out of spite. There are enough kids in schools that attempt to hack the principal's computer - hey, why not his OnStar?

There are a lot of possibilities.