Onstar?

SJP12 · August 12, 2009

My year free is coming to an end on friday and don't know if I should renew it, I have never used any of the services it offers but I like what it offers in case of accident or emergency. The monthly report cards are nice also.

opions?

Matt_ · August 12, 2009

I will be renewing specifically for the accident reporting feature....

cev103 · August 12, 2009

I did.....I like the idea of having them be able to unlock my doors and the crash notification. I've used the door unlock option twice this year alone, and I even called them and asked if they could lock my doors for me (sounds gay, but I left on a trip to Maryland back in March and I realized that I didn't lock my truck as I was in a hurry).

If you do renew, make sure to ask for a discounted rate. I called them up asking for a lower rate that I heard was available to members of this forum, the guy said there was no such thing, so I told him to cancel my account. He stated he couldn't do the cancellation and had to trnasfer me to another person who could. Long story short, I got another year for the rate of $148 and change.....I think it normally goes for $199 or something like that.

Wingnut · August 12, 2009

OnStar should pay people to reimburse them for putting such an invasive system in their cars.

txab · August 12, 2009

Not worth it to me

brims · August 12, 2009

I will be renewing specifically for the accident reporting feature....

My 07 was totalled, never heard a peep from OnStar. Guess your air bags need to deploy but it spun my truck around and pushed the rear axle back 6-8 inches and pulled the drive shaft out of the transmission. I wasn't hurt but I found the lack of noise from OnStar to be a waste of money.

Matt_ · August 12, 2009

I will be renewing specifically for the accident reporting feature....

My 07 was totalled, never heard a peep from OnStar. Guess your air bags need to deploy but it spun my truck around and pushed the rear axle back 6-8 inches and pulled the drive shaft out of the transmission. I wasn't hurt but I found the lack of noise from OnStar to be a waste of money.

That's interesting... probably because your airbags didn't deploy.

All I know is that if my wife and kid get in an accident somewhere, or god forbid hit a deer on one of the back roads of NJ (which would set the airbags off) and I was too cheap to pay for Onstar, I would be a wreck after finding out that they were sitting on the side of the road unconscious/injured until someone passing by stopped. For that, its worth the $$ to me.

cev103 · August 13, 2009

I will be renewing specifically for the accident reporting feature....

My 07 was totalled, never heard a peep from OnStar. Guess your air bags need to deploy but it spun my truck around and pushed the rear axle back 6-8 inches and pulled the drive shaft out of the transmission. I wasn't hurt but I found the lack of noise from OnStar to be a waste of money.

That's interesting... probably because your airbags didn't deploy.

All I know is that if my wife and kid get in an accident somewhere, or god forbid hit a deer on one of the back roads of NJ (which would set the airbags off) and I was too cheap to pay for Onstar, I would be a wreck after finding out that they were sitting on the side of the road unconscious/injured until someone passing by stopped. For that, its worth the $$ to me.

+1 ......that is the biggest reason for me wanting to keep it. One of my fathers friend's wife died when she went off the road during a snow storm. He was expecting her home one night and she never returned. They ended up finding her car 5 days later down a steep embankment and she of course was dead. She died from cold exposure and not from her injuries. Odds are she'd be alive today if someone saw her go off the road......IMO its worth the extra $$$ for an insurance policy, providing that the airbags go off.

brims · August 13, 2009

My truck spun around 180* and it did all that damage, from the cab back to the rear of the rear wheel well plus it screwed up the "fog" lamp and associated area when it came around. No OnStar. So I'm not really impressed with the system. If I have to run the thing into a tree, deer, or semi, it's a pretty worthless system to me. I'm the only one that drives it, so I don't have to deal with anyone else dying because I didn't want to cough up $200 a year, it's just my own life.

Matt_ · August 13, 2009

Well... your air bags didn't deploy and you were unhurt... so if you needed onstar assistance I guess you were in good enough shape to press the little button.

Now, if your airbags deployed and you were messed up... and still had to reach up to press the button, id be disappointed too... but the system can't tell that you've spun around and probably doesn't have sensors connected to your axle, so how would it know? I assume thats what they're wired into the airbags.... if the airbags deploy its more likely an injury occurred. I bet you'd be pissed if Onstar knew about every little "fender bender" and kept a record of it, maybe that's another reason they're connected to the air bag sensors (which didn't deploy in your case).

Just a thought.

Edit: and even if i was a loner... id like my life saved for $200/year... that'd be a sucky thought going through my head too if i was paralyzed in a ditch. And yes, it does happen (read sad story above).. and no, its never planned for.

brims · August 13, 2009

Well... your air bags didn't deploy and you were unhurt... so if you needed onstar assistance I guess you were in good enough shape to press the little button.

Now, if your airbags deployed and you were messed up... and still had to reach up to press the button, id be disappointed too... but the system can't tell that you've spun around and probably doesn't have sensors connected to your axle, so how would it know? I assume thats what they're wired into the airbags.... if the airbags deploy its more likely an injury occurred. I bet you'd be pissed if Onstar knew about every little "fender bender" and kept a record of it, maybe that's another reason they're connected to the air bag sensors (which didn't deploy in your case).

Just a thought.

Edit: and even if i was a loner... id like my life saved for $200/year... that'd be a sucky thought going through my head too if i was paralyzed in a ditch. And yes, it does happen (read sad story above).. and no, its never planned for.

If I had hit my head on the glass while spinning around and been knocked unconscious, then OnStar would have been f*cking useless now wouldn't it.

So if the airbags don't go off, you must be fine. There are all kind of sensors on these dam trucks, there are impact sensors in a bunch of places, roll sensors, and who knows what other kind of sensors.

If I was paralyzed in a ditch with no airbag deployment, I'd sure be pissed because OnStar is a worthless.

HawkeyeOC · August 13, 2009

I will be renewing specifically for the accident reporting feature....

My 07 was totalled, never heard a peep from OnStar. Guess your air bags need to deploy but it spun my truck around and pushed the rear axle back 6-8 inches and pulled the drive shaft out of the transmission. I wasn't hurt but I found the lack of noise from OnStar to be a waste of money.

True: your air bags need to deploy before your truck will call OnStar automatically. Otherwise you have to press the emergency button which so far I have found faster than our lousy 911 system here in the Los Angeles Area.

I renew just for the accident reporting feature It worked once on mine already

Matt_ · August 13, 2009

If I had hit my head on the glass while spinning around and been knocked unconscious, then OnStar would have been f*cking useless now wouldn't it.

In that situation, yes. So is that a reason to give up utilizing its capability? In your opinion, I guess the answer is yes.

So if the airbags don't go off, you must be fine.

Thats not what I said. Just that the airbag sensors are the best indication that someone has been injured. I'm sure they've considered other ideas.... but until they have heart rate monitors in vehicles, its hard to determine all of the possible scenarios. Airbag deployment seems like the logical step. Are you mad at Onstar that they didnt call you or are you mad that your airbags didnt deploy?

There are all kind of sensors on these dam trucks, there are impact sensors in a bunch of places, roll sensors, and who knows what other kind of sensors.

There really aren't that many sensors..... seriously. Some people do think that these trucks are littered with sensors so the "computer" knows every little detail; but there aren't....

Not arguing with you man... its your choice. I just dont think that Onstar is as useless as you think, just because they didn't call you in your accident.