Onstar New Feature "Take Me Home"

[Calamitygirl]

They are all excited about their latest new feature. Push the blue Onstar button and say "take me home". If you need help in finding your own home you should not be out unsupervised!

If my truck is stolen, the thief can push the button, say those little magic words and go right to my house, pull in the garage, fill up my truck with my stuff and drive off into the sunset.

I think they should call it "Take my home!"

When I called Onstar and explained my concerns they politely listened and said one moment please. After about 15 minutes and talking to three different people they realized this is a really big screw up. There is no security code system in place so my address is now a skyscraper in downtown Dallas. Seriously, that was their solution, using a fake address since they email and not snail mail correspondence to me!

I'm going to change it to my local police station!

 

[f5moab]

Onstar does have some great functions...

 

[DJinCO]

But it has a brush guard.

:giggle:

 

[Hans3T]

Onstar does have some great functions...

:giggle: That's a good one, Doug! Hahaha!

Sent with Tapacrack

 

[M22KLARS]

They are all excited about their latest new feature. Push the blue Onstar button and say "take me home". If you need help in finding your own home you should not be out unsupervised!

If my truck is stolen, the thief can push the button, say those little magic words and go right to my house, pull in the garage, fill up my truck with my stuff and drive off into the sunset.

I think they should call it "Take my home!"

When I called Onstar and explained my concerns they politely listened and said one moment please. After about 15 minutes and talking to three different people they realized this is a really big screw up. There is no security code system in place so my address is now a skyscraper in downtown Dallas. Seriously, that was their solution, using a fake address since they email and not snail mail correspondence to me!

I'm going to change it to my local police station!

Wow that's terrible.... I would have loved to be in on those board meetings. "Everyone, we need something new! Something........ useful, yet simple." "You know... I keep forgetting where I live. How about something that guides you home when you can't remember where you live?!" "GENIUS! Jim, you just got yourself that promotion you've been after. Congrats new VP!"

Onstar does have some great functions...

Nice! Haven't seen that one before.

 

[f5moab]

Not saying it is a good idea or a bad idea since I have read online those who support this feature, and many who don't. However, how many people here can say there is no information in the vehicle's glove box or console that does not give your home address (won't ask about under the seat)? And those with Navigation units; how many have home registered in the address book? (I have home registered in both of my Nav units (H3/Silverado), and both vehicles have the Utah 8x11 sheet of paper also known as the Utah License registration, and I won't even count how many dealer service receipts there are with my address.)

 

[LagunaH1]

Good points Doug. The GPS in my daily driver has my home address stored as "home" and it also remembers the last 25 places I went using the GPS. When I've been on the road all day, in and out of meetings and need to get home from a place I am not used to being at, it's really nice to be able to tell the GPS to guide me home, especially because the GPS is traffic aware so it routes me around accidents and congestion.

 

[f5moab]

Let me add, I do believe this feature should be totally optional and the person should be forced to sign up or at least call and say "yes, give it go me.". I have not received any notice regarding this feature and I have two Onstar accounts.

The return home feature is nice when you go on Vacation, traveling through ID, WY, MT, CO and returning home from somewhere in the middle of nowhere CO.

 

[LagunaH1]

I always liked OnStar... I like the idea that help is just a button push away, even in pretty darn remote areas due to the *much* stronger cell signal the OnStar system can put out. I think it was you Doug who told me that OnStar can transmit some 3 watts? -Compared to the 0.5 watts of a regular cell phone.

 

[Hunner]

It may be 4 watts and any carrier available, depending who you ask. Very similiar to the old "mobile phone" package you used to be able to have installed with a transmitter under the seat.
I know it worked in Capitol Reef National Park when my cell did not and she gave me my lat and att! It was very close to my computer nav software.
You would be able to describe any problem you had and not call out the emergency forces if you needed parts.
I see now the INReach can use a phone to send test also instead of just a panic button.
What will they think of next. Phone home..................

 

[08H3]

I wouldn't worry about it too much. You give up all anonymity once you leave your driveway. Up until just a couple years ago anyone in Indiana willing to fork over a subscription to the state could get access to the BMV's license plate database. Fortunately, a law was passed that made it available only to law enforcement and private investigators.

 

[f5moab]

It may be 4 watts and any carrier available, depending who you ask. Very similiar to the old "mobile phone" package you used to be able to have installed with a transmitter under the seat.
I know it worked in Capitol Reef National Park when my cell did not and she gave me my lat and att! It was very close to my computer nav software.
You would be able to describe any problem you had and not call out the emergency forces if you needed parts.
I see now the INReach can use a phone to send test also instead of just a panic button.
What will they think of next. Phone home..................

It's a 3 watt system with a nice 2-3 inch antenna sitting nice and high on the top of your roof (it sticks out of the black puck (or wart) on the roof. You cell phone has a .6 watt system with a 1/2 inch antenna stuck in a large piece of plastic.
It is ONLY Verizon; however, Verizon does use some towers registered to Alltel in certain areas, where Verizon was able to purchase Altell (some areas were taken over by AT&T I believe).
The GPS is separate, with the GPS antenna part of the puck on top of the vehicle. (XM antenna shares the other part of the black puck; if your vehicle came with XM.)

Didn't you have AT&T on your cell phone? I know I was able to make a call on my Verizon phone from Capital Reef that night, while you were in the H3 calling on Onstar. That was the year Verizon went totally digital and the previous year, my Verizon phone would not work; however, I had a Satellite phone for a "just in case" moment.