Onstar is crap....

[Memphis SS]

OnStar is Crap because you don't know how it works.. As other have posted if the airbag doesn't deploy they don't call.

[motorhead]

Originally Posted by usmcjlp

Wow it looks like the GM die hards want to pile on anyone who has a complaint. I agree completely. Onstar is absolutely worthless. I live in the DC area and their directions are always the worst possible route. Operators were always very slow. They also caused me to almost have a severe wreck.

Here are the details. I was driving to Maryland at 5:30am on a rainy morning. I requested routing to avoid major highways because traffic in the beltway is always bad. They sent me the routing. I was cruising at about 60 mph on a 2 lane black top road. It was still dark and there was no street lighting. All of a sudden the blacktop became a dirt road. There was about a 4 inch drop from the pavement to the dirt. Remember it was raining, car immediately went into a tail slide. There was a ditch on one side of the road and a tree line on the other. I managed to get the car stopped. The gravel from the dirt road chewed up my rocker panels and gills. My engine bay looked like I had been baja racing. When I immediately called onstar to let them know what had happened, they told me to call back later no one was available to help me. GM would be better off offering a built in nav option. I have owned other vehicles with nav systems and garmin units, this system is the worst by far. No other system has ever put me in a situation like that! I will never use it again.

You blame onstar because you don't pay attention when you drive. Did you expect onstar to tell you that the road was changing to dirt. Come on. People put to much faith in computers these days and not enough faith in the one between their ears.

[jdenotter]

Totally off topic but I found something I thought was interesting off Wikipedia about OnStar
Use As Surveillance Device

It is theoretically possible for OnStar to be remotely activated by malicious third parties or under government order. This would enable third parties to track the location of the car, along with the ability to listen to the contents of any conversations carried on by the occupants within the car without their consent or knowledge. This surveillance capacity has been employed in at least one case which was litigated before the Ninth Circuit.[12]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OnStar

[fbodfather]

Originally Posted by usmcjlp

Wow it looks like the GM die hards want to pile on anyone who has a complaint. I agree completely. Onstar is absolutely worthless. I live in the DC area and their directions are always the worst possible route. Operators were always very slow. They also caused me to almost have a severe wreck.

Here are the details. I was driving to Maryland at 5:30am on a rainy morning. I requested routing to avoid major highways because traffic in the beltway is always bad. They sent me the routing. I was cruising at about 60 mph on a 2 lane black top road. It was still dark and there was no street lighting. All of a sudden the blacktop became a dirt road. There was about a 4 inch drop from the pavement to the dirt. Remember it was raining, car immediately went into a tail slide. There was a ditch on one side of the road and a tree line on the other. I managed to get the car stopped. The gravel from the dirt road chewed up my rocker panels and gills. My engine bay looked like I had been baja racing. When I immediately called onstar to let them know what had happened, they told me to call back later no one was available to help me. GM would be better off offering a built in nav option. I have owned other vehicles with nav systems and garmin units, this system is the worst by far. No other system has ever put me in a situation like that! I will never use it again.

Wow - I'm at a loss here - how in the world would OnStar or Garmin or ANY nav system know about this?


As to whether or not OnStar is worth it:

I've seen way too many lives saved because of OnStar. Yes, I'm privy to details that the general public is not.....

I can assure you that Mom Settlemire's Camaro has OnStar and I renewed it when the first year expired......

One last thing: OnStar cannot work if there is a break in cellular service - -and it cannot work if the car or truck loses all power (battery is destroyed or goes dead) --

With all that's out there - - I would not consider NOT having OnStar. (I use it several times a month when looking for stores or shops or restaurants - -) The peace of mind it provides -- at least to me - is worth every dime.

(......and yes, I'm prejudiced - -but then I also spend money to renew on my personal cars.....I wouldn't do it if I didn't believe in it...)

[born-to-fish-]

yep, if I've got onstar giving me directions, then I throw common sense out the window. If onstar told you to drive off a cliff would you, just to have something to whine about? Gimme a break
A program or machine can only do what it's intended to do. We as humans are supposed to have cognitive reasoning, but that seems to be going by the wayside these days
.....looking to get something for nothing?
what the hell is wrong with some people?
I've said it before
there's a problem with common sense these days, it's just not so common anymore

[Stett]

Originally Posted by born-to-fish-

yep, if I've got onstar giving me directions, then I throw common sense out the window. If onstar told you to drive off a cliff would you, just to have something to whine about? Gimme a break
A program or machine can only do what it's intended to do. We as humans are supposed to have cognitive reasoning, but that seems to be going by the wayside these days
.....looking to get something for nothing?
what the hell is wrong with some people?
I've said it before
there's a problem with common sense these days, it's just not so common anymore

Originally Posted by fbodfather

Wow - I'm at a loss here - how in the world would OnStar or Garmin or ANY nav system know about this?


As to whether or not OnStar is worth it:

I've seen way too many lives saved because of OnStar. Yes, I'm privy to details that the general public is not.....

I can assure you that Mom Settlemire's Camaro has OnStar and I renewed it when the first year expired......

One last thing: OnStar cannot work if there is a break in cellular service - -and it cannot work if the car or truck loses all power (battery is destroyed or goes dead) --

With all that's out there - - I would not consider NOT having OnStar. (I use it several times a month when looking for stores or shops or restaurants - -) The peace of mind it provides -- at least to me - is worth every dime.

(......and yes, I'm prejudiced - -but then I also spend money to renew on my personal cars.....I wouldn't do it if I didn't believe in it...)

Originally Posted by motorhead

You blame onstar because you don't pay attention when you drive. Did you expect onstar to tell you that the road was changing to dirt. Come on. People put to much faith in computers these days and enough faith in the one between their ears.

Originally Posted by SchwarzerDrache

So it was Onstar's fault you drove 60 MPH off the road? You are always responsible for paying attention to where you are driving.

Have you ever used a GPS that took you on a weird route? I have. Garmin, Tom Tom and Onstar included. Hell, my Infiniti Nav sometimes takes me in a circle around the destination.

I'll take for 1000 Alex

[Sandor]

Originally Posted by SchwarzerDrache

So it was Onstar's fault you drove 60 MPH off the road? You are always responsible for paying attention to where you are driving.

Have you ever used a GPS that took you on a weird route? I have. Garmin, Tom Tom and Onstar included. Hell, my Infiniti Nav sometimes takes me in a circle around the destination.

GPS Navigation :

[melody301]

Originally Posted by usmcjlp

a rainy morning... I was cruising at about 60 mph on a 2 lane black top road. It was still dark and there was no street lighting.

It's dark, raining, no street lighting, your on a two lane back road, and you're going 60mph??? Are you sure this was Onstar's fault?

[Ronn]

As mentioned onstar requires cell phone coverage which is almost useless to me because coverage is sketchy at best where I drive. It is a good service in theory, however way too overpriced.

[OrangeSS]

Originally Posted by v6sonoma

Did your airbags deploy? It only contacts you if they do.

Originally Posted by v6sonoma

Here's the thread with the accident. Reading the thread the airbags did not deploy hence the no call from onstar.

http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=107965

Incorrect... I was involved in a low speed accident (with a deer.......) bags didn't deploy but Onstar contacted me like 20 seconds later. Still not gonna renew, but did work like it should, actually it was kinda annoying because I was soooo pissed at the time and had to talk to the Onstar lady...

[greenrail]

Yanno, I really believe in personal responsibility. Regardless of OnStar, Garmin, TomTom, Magellan, or what ever, you need to pay attention to your driving. There is no perfect navigation system.

Mapquest consistently places my home address two blocks in the opposite direction from where my house is located.

I really like Onstar. It is great help and a way of protecting my Rosie from being stolen.

[Hicompression]

Originally Posted by raqball

I personally can care less about OnStar... It's WAY overpriced IMHO.... As soon as my BlueStar module get here, the OnStar module will go into permanent storage never to be used again unless I sell or trade the car...

Where is the module and how do you remove it? My original OnStar subscription has expired and I would like to remove the "module".

[ZED SLED]

Originally Posted by turboguy327

What exactly is BlueStar?? Is it like onstar but free or something??

It's an ointment for crabs

[motorhead]

Originally Posted by mclark10

It's an ointment for crabs

I always used RAID.