How to disable OnStar?

[SS_Matt]

Originally Posted by Stevea361

In my opinion, There is no difference from what they where doing before, just now they are going to share your driving habits anonymously to third parties. Quit freaking out. The already share your info with police and emergency vehicles thats part of safe and sound.

If you're talking to me, I'm not freaking out. I just want to know how to do it in case more is unveiled about who they are selling their information to.

I'm confident they aren't doing some of the things people are worried about (report speeding to authorities, mileage/speeding to insurance companies, voiding warranty based on data sent to them etc). I think the revised policy is likely covering their asses a little more, and improving services.

But, better safe than sorry.

If anyone knows the answer post it up. This isn't supposed to be a debate on here.

[liquidsmoke]

just got off the phone with my chevy dealer, talking to there camaro tech.
He says the onstar module is located behind the glove box. First remove the glove box and then there is another panel and its located there.
He says it shouldn't be hard to remove, just unplug it.

says it shouldn't take longer than 30 min to be done. Its prob less than that as they bill by 30 min increments so they would charge 50 bucks if you wanted them to do it. IMO it should be covered under warranty for those unable to do it.

[liquidsmoke]

i doubt you will be able to keep the bluetooth after taking the module out.
It really all depends on how many parts make up the total system and the best point of cutting the line. If its all inside one box then you wont be able too keep it.

the way the system works, there is gps and there is a cell phone. Im pretty sure the bluetooth is apart of the cell phone and this is the main part that sends data to onstar.
you could leave the gps alone and only disconnect the cellular radio, but you would likely loose bluetooth also.
Disconnecting the gps antenna wont do much good either as location can be triangulated with just the cellular radio but it wouldn't be as accurate, and they would still collect other information like your speed, belt buckle being on or off etc.
The best way is to just remove the cellular radio part, or just junk the whole system.

Personally for me, i dont care about loosing the bluetooth. You still have bluetooth in the pdim so you can still stream music wirelessly. You just wont be able to take and receive phone calls over the car speakers. For some that may be an issue, but from someone elses post earlier the bluestar thing will fix that for you.

[SS_Matt]

Originally Posted by liquidsmoke

The best way is to just remove the cellular radio part, or just junk the whole system.

I don't see what the "cellular radio" has to do with bluetooth?
Bluetooth is just the middleman between your phone and your head unit- in some cars I believe the bluetooth functionality is in the head unit itself, and not an external component.

If the bluetooth is built in to the OnStar box it would be a damn shame. I've grown accustomed to making and receiving phone calls hands free in our current cars. At this point I don't want to take a step backwards.

Again- if anyone knows for sure about the bluetooth- post up. Speculation is nice, but knowing for sure is better.

[Obzen]

Originally Posted by SS_Matt

I don't see what the "cellular radio" has to do with bluetooth?
Bluetooth is just the middleman between your phone and your head unit- in some cars I believe the bluetooth functionality is in the head unit itself, and not an external component.

If the bluetooth is built in to the OnStar box it would be a damn shame. I've grown accustomed to making and receiving phone calls hands free in our current cars. At this point I don't want to take a step backwards.

Again- if anyone knows for sure about the bluetooth- post up. Speculation is nice, but knowing for sure is better.

The bluetooth receiver is built in to the onstar module. Therefore, no onstar module, no bluetooth calls. The bluetooth for your music is built into the PDIM. Therefore it will still work even without the onstar module.

This isnt speculation. Its fact. Thats why us 1SS owners dont have bluetooth. In order to add it we have to switch out the onstar module with a bluetooth enabled onstar module.

Yes its stupid.

[Zach@ExtremePerformance]

It does indeed appear, according to GM documents, that the afore-mentioned fuse in the F-14D (Tomcat) location only powers the OnStar module:

Telematics Communication Interface Control Module

The telematics communication interface control module is a cellular device that allows the user to communicate data and voice signals over the national cellular network. Power is provided by a dedicated, fused B+ circuit.

The fuse location is verified in the upper left corner of the attached schematic. Note that there may be a backup battery which would keep it alive for a bit (pins 13 & 14, there in the top middle section of the schematic). Towards the upper right corner, there are the connections #2 & 3 for "cellular phone and digital radio" antennae. They don't specify which is which, but the lefthand one has arrows which seem to indicate bi-directional activity (transmission and reception) versus the righthand one has one arrow pointing inwards (ostensibly meaning reception only). So if you're worried about losing BlueTooth connectivity with your phone, WHICH WILL BE LOST if you pull the fuse (you can see the BT antenna on the far right of module in the attached pic; and the document I quoted from above also specifies hands-free BT, if equipped, being handled by this module) you should be able to pull antenna connector #3 and be good to go (if you lose sat reception, put that one back and try the other one!). You'll have duct-taped it's mouth so to speak, and given it a nice tall glass of stfu, without disrupting any of the other functions.

[SS_Matt]

Any aftermarket head units with built in bluetooth for phone that would integrate with the car easily?

Anything different for 2012? Bluetooth is standard on 2012's however it's likely the same scenario.

[Obzen]

Originally Posted by SS_Matt

Any aftermarket head units with built in bluetooth for phone that would integrate with the car easily?

Anything different for 2012? Bluetooth is standard on 2012's however it's likely the same scenario.

You need a dash kit in order to change out the head unit since the A/C controls etc. are part of it.

Is there a reason why you don't want to just call onstar and tell them to disable your data connection? That way you can keep the unit installed.

From the privacy statement "You may deactivate the Data Connection to your Vehicle at any time by contacting an OnStar Advisor."

[SS_Matt]

Originally Posted by Obzen

You need a dash kit in order to change out the head unit since the A/C controls etc. are part of it.

Is there a reason why you don't want to just call onstar and tell them to disable your data connection? That way you can keep the unit installed.

From the privacy statement "You may deactivate the Data Connection to your Vehicle at any time by contacting an OnStar Advisor."

Stock head unit it is.

If you can request them to disable connection I'll do that, but it'll never be known if they're actually still connected or not unless it is physically disabled or removed from the car.

Not a huge deal, though, just something I'm keeping in mind.
First need the car to come in. LOL

[liquidsmoke]

If there were some way to prove they actually turned it off, that would be the easiest route. But there is no proof and you just have to take there word for it. If the people in this thread trusted onstar enough to take there word for it, we likely wouldn't want to disable the system to begin with.


If you are looking to get a new head unit, JUST to keep Bluetooth voice, I would consider bluestar. It's made specifically to give you back Bluetooth when you disable onstar and cost cheaper than a new head unit and dash kit. http://www.costartech.com/pb/products/products.html

[Obzen]

Originally Posted by SS_Matt

Stock head unit it is.

If you can request them to disable connection I'll do that, but it'll never be known if they're actually still connected or not unless it is physically disabled or removed from the car.

Not a huge deal, though, just something I'm keeping in mind.
First need the car to come in. LOL

Yes its stated multiple times in the privacy statement and on their website that you can call them to disable it. You can also call them to limit certain parts of what they share (not sure what the options are at this time but im looking into it).

If not knowing 100% bothers you enough to lose sleep at night then yes, you'll have to take the whole module out.

[FLRS]

Originally Posted by Zach@ExtremePerformance

It does indeed appear, according to GM documents, that the afore-mentioned fuse in the F-14D (Tomcat) location only powers the OnStar module:

The fuse location is verified in the upper left corner of the attached schematic. Note that there may be a backup battery which would keep it alive for a bit (pins 13 & 14, there in the top middle section of the schematic). Towards the upper right corner, there are the connections #2 & 3 for "cellular phone and digital radio" antennae. They don't specify which is which, but the lefthand one has arrows which seem to indicate bi-directional activity (transmission and reception) versus the righthand one has one arrow pointing inwards (ostensibly meaning reception only). So if you're worried about losing BlueTooth connectivity with your phone, WHICH WILL BE LOST if you pull the fuse (you can see the BT antenna on the far right of module in the attached pic; and the document I quoted from above also specifies hands-free BT, if equipped, being handled by this module) you should be able to pull antenna connector #3 and be good to go (if you lose sat reception, put that one back and try the other one!). You'll have duct-taped it's mouth so to speak, and given it a nice tall glass of stfu, without disrupting any of the other functions.

Zach, thanks for the information

[L99CAMA2011]

You can only disable Onstar by trading to a 5.0 Coyote .

[Nemo13]

Thread resurrection! (disclaimer: If you are emotionally effected by this event, please do not read, haha) New guy here, jumping on this topic since I just did this today... I didn't want Onstar but did want a new Camaro. I didn't special order, so no option not to have it. So I decided to yank it and cut off big brother. The unit in my 2012 seems a little different, it only has L1 - L3, and just one antenna connection. Pic:



Curious why diff, anyway, I took out the fuse and unpluged everything and took the box out. The car runs fine, no weirdness, although the bluetooth button on the steering does not work, but HAL (The green eye on the mirror) is dead.

Yeah, I know, had the 6 mo free, but really, it's too easy to steal a car if you want to and if I am going to be in an accident where I can't get to my phone, I will most likely be dead, haha. If my cell can't reach anyone, neither will Onstar. I worked for a cell company for 4 years, so you know...