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OnStar Says ‘Stop, Thief’
Oct 29 2007 by Courtney Messenbaugh
10/23/2007
System Now Cuts Engine in Stolen Vehicles
Imagine, if you will, that your car has been stolen. Imagine that the police are in pursuit. Finally, imagine if they could get the car to stop without firing a shot. It's more than possible; read on.
I discovered this futuristic-sounding technology during a recent trip to Washington, D.C. Now, to preface, I have to confess something that may sound, well, kind of crazy. The thing is, when I go away on business trips and am far from my husband and son, I become a total freak about my personal safety. I envision plane and car crashes, muggings and just about every other grim scenario you can imagine. Talk about separation anxiety! I'm sure a psychotherapist would have a field day with this, but I'm too busy to go see one so I just grin and bear it.
Well, imagine how that anxiety changed during this recent trip to D.C. when I walked into an OnStar press conference that was filled with our nation's most prominent fire and police chiefs, and John Walsh from "America's Most Wanted." Let's just say I felt pretty darn safe.
You may recall that our Chief Mother here at MotherProof visited the OnStar Command Center in Detroit earlier this year and told us "OnStar is soulfully dedicated to keeping people safe in their cars."
"Yes," I thought prior to attending this press conference, "but isn't OnStar's true purpose helping Kelly Ripa find her way to a posh NYC day spa?" (Don't tell me you haven't seen the commercials.) Well, Kelly is a paid spokesperson, so we should take her endorsement with a few grains of salt. However, the firefighters and policemen at this press conference weren't paid spokespeople, and neither was John Walsh, yet here they were telling the world how fantastic OnStar really is. (I looked around for Kelly, but she must have still been at the spa.)
It seems OnStar worries even more about safety than I do — not to mention that it does a heck of a lot more than find day spas. It has long helped locate stolen vehicles using real-time GPS technology, but now for the real kicker: At the press conference I attended, GM unveiled Stolen Vehicle Slowdown technology, which goes one step further. As the name indicates, OnStar can cut power to your engine if your car is stolen. The chain of events goes something like this: You car gets stolen, you call the police to report it, then you call OnStar to help locate your vehicle. OnStar then helps the police locate your car. Once the cops have your car in sight, OnStar activates Stolen Vehicle Slowdown. Within seconds, the engine slows to idle speed, the police apprehend the thief, you get your car back and everyone is happy (except for the thief — too bad, so sad!).
I had the opportunity to test this technology out and, sure enough, as I was speeding away in my "stolen" vehicle, an OnStar voice, seemingly out of nowhere, informed me that the car would be slowed. Sure enough, it was. I even floored the gas pedal but, alas, there wasn't even a hint of acceleration. GM plans to debut this technology in select 2009-model-year vehicles.
That explains why law enforcement is so jazzed about this technology; every year, there are about 30,000 police chases in pursuit of stolen vehicles, resulting in approximately 300 deaths, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Plus, it seems car theft and kidnapping go hand-in-hand far more often than I ever knew. Everything happens so quickly in a carjacking that the thief throws the driver out and speeds away, only to realize later that there's a child in the backseat. Walsh said timing is everything with kidnappings — i.e., the sooner police find your child, the better the chances your child will be unharmed. Stolen Vehicle Slowdown, combined with OnStar's already-existing GPS location system, will let cops get to these kids more quickly than before.
The bottom line is, if OnStar continues to prove itself a safety pioneer, it may be able to calm even my paranoid mind. I'm looking forward to that!
