SabrToothSqrl

Cop Guesses Woman

in2pro

That is a bit concerning that the On Star system was not accurate.... no, that is a lot concerning....isn't that the point of paying a premium for a service...

intheburbs

So the OnStar antenna was likely damaged....

and likely with a lot of natural interference from rocks, trees, etc...

You guys are aware that OnStar is cell-based, not satellite-based, yes? While On-star is a good thing to have, it's not infallible if you're in an area with poor reception or the antenna is damaged.

My buddy just two months ago had a similar accident in his brand-new Equinox. He was driving in rural Michigan, slid off a wet road, went airborne, landed in a field, got sideways, rolled, and slid into a stand of trees, coming to rest on the vehicle's driver side. He was uninjured, but about 100 yards off the road and not visible from the highway, and was trapped in the vehicle.

Emergency equipment was there within 20 minutes and they had to cut him out. Dumbass wasn't wearing his seatbelt, and walked away uninjured.

in2pro

My cell phone works weather I have it face down, face up sideways....
On Star touts its ability to be there for you, for your safety in an accident, my cellar provided makes no such claim...

If the antenna being broken off the top of the vehicle or the vehicle being upside down is the Achilles' heel of On Star, then that is pretty poor design and planning for a " safety feature"

intheburbs

If I throw your cell phone forcefully onto cement, will it still work?

What location would you recommend for the antenna that would keep it safe in ALL possible accidents, and still have good reception?

in2pro

The cell phone is the whole unit, where as the OnStar unit is protected with in the vehicle so its the antenna that is the weak link...( the cell phone in the mentioned story was also protected inside the vehicle)

My only point is for a company to promote a safety feature as such, you would think, they would have taken a rollover/antenna mast loss into account and placed a secondary or placed enough of the receiving/transmitting portion in a position that afforded it survivability in most all crash scenario....

And its possible they did, and considered the likelihood of rollover and mast loss as not as likely in most cases and the potential for signal loss as acceptable in that case.

In a nut shell, its disappointing that a service you pay to protect you, failed to do just that.

SabrToothSqrl

I could write an iPhone app that senses when the phone is 'thrown' (exceeds a G limit) and gives you 5 min to cancel before sending a text to a pre-programmed number w/a pre-programmed message...?

Both OnStar and the iPhone (and all CELL phones) use GPS via satellites (and often cell towers) to obtain it's position. However that's only 1/2 the equation.

for either to send data back, they must be in range of an applicable (OnStar is Verizon) cell tower.

I brought it up because I also found the security OnStar allegedly offers concerning... vs. a standard phone.

While no system can be 100% effective in 100% of situations, a roll over type accident isn't uncommon enough to not plan for it.

an antenna doesn't need to be on the roof to be effective. my phone seems to work just fine buried at least 2 buildings deep from a cell tower.

Some of this goes back to my whole issue with OnStar in the first place. They charge for a safety feature that's 99.9% paid for by the buyer of the car.

Added features -yes, please, charge out the wazzoohh.

Calling 911 when an airbag goes off, or when it's upside down?! NO. I paid for the vehicle, and all the stuff in it. 911 is a free call. All it has to do is call 911, and play a recorded "This is GM notifying you that Vehicle "2009 black Tahoe" has deployed it's airbags. The vehicle is located at GPS coordinates "37°23'39.4"N 122°09'02.2"W" this message will repeat"

Man, that was hard. took me 10 minutes to write, and would take me 5 more to write the code. FREE.

How many lives could this save?

in2pro

That is my beef with the On Star system... even deactivated cell phones have the ability to call 911... why not offer a one time charge for the life/ownership of the vehicle for crash monitoring only....
Boy that just chaps me, why did you have to bring that back up STS

SabrToothSqrl

finding the single (or often multiple) flaw in a million lines of code or a panel misalignment on a brand new Lambo.... yea... that's what I do....

it's a talent ... lol.