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Encyclopedia > OnStar
OnStar Corporation
Type Wholly-owned subsidiary
Founded 1995
Headquarters Flag of the United States Detroit, Michigan, USA
Key people Chet Huber, President
Slogan Get the OnStar Treatment
Website www.onstar.com

OnStar Corporation is a wholly-owned subsidiary of General Motors which provides subscription-based communications, monitoring and tracking services throughout the United States and Canada. OnStar services are only available currently on vehicles manufactured by General Motors, however service was available for a short time on vehicles produced by Acura, Audi, Subaru and Volkswagen through a licensing agreement. The service is available for all vehicles that have the factory-installed OnStar hardware. Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... A subsidiary, in business, is an entity that is controlled by another entity. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Motto: Speramus Meliora; Resurget Cineribus (We Hope For Better Things; It Shall Rise From the Ashes - this motto was adopted after the disastrous 1805 fire that devastated the city) Nickname: The Motor City and Motown Location in Wayne County, Michigan Founded Incorporated July 24, 1701 1815  County Wayne County Mayor... Official language(s) None (English, de-facto) Capital Lansing Largest city Detroit Largest metro area Metro Detroit Area  Ranked 11th  - Total 97,990 sq mi (253,793 km²)  - Width 239 miles (385 km)  - Length 491 miles (790 km)  - % water 41. ... President is a title held by many leaders of organizations, companies, trade unions, universities, and countries. ... Look up slogan in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A website (alternatively, Web site or web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos or other digital assets that is hosted on one or several Web server(s), usually accessible via the Internet, cell phone or a LAN. A Web page is a document, typically written in HTML... General Motors Corporation (NYSE: GM), also known as GM, is an American automobile maker with worldwide operations and brands including Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Holden, Hummer, Opel, Pontiac, Saturn, Saab and Vauxhall. ... Copy of the original phone of Alexander Graham Bell at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris Telecommunication is the assisted transmission of signals over a distance for the purpose of communication. ... To monitor or monitoring may mean: to observe a situation for any changes which may occur over time, using a monitor or measuring device of some sort: Baby monitor, medical monitor, Heart rate monitor Biomonitoring Condition monitoring Network monitoring Election monitoring to observe the behaviour or communications of individuals or... Italic textA vehicle tracking system is an electronic device installed in a vehicle to enable the owner or a third party to track the vehicles location. ... General Motors Corporation, also known as GM or The General, an American multinational conglomerate corporation, is the worlds largest auto company by annual production volume for 2006, and the second largest by sales volume as of the first half of 2007, behind Toyota Motor Corporation. ... Acura (アキュラ Akyura) is a luxury brand of Japanese automaker Honda Motor Company. ... Audi AG is a German automobile manufacturer with headquarters in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, and has been an almost wholly owned (99. ... For other uses, see Subaru (disambiguation). ... Volkswagen AG (ISIN: DE0007664005), or VW, is an automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Germany. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Computer hardware is the physical part of a computer, including the digital circuitry, as distinguished from the computer software that executes within the hardware. ...


It consists of both communication, through AMPS (primary) or CDMA (secondary) mobile phone networks (usually Verizon Wireless and/or Sprint Nextel and/or AT&T Mobility (via AMPS) in the United States and Telus and/or Bell Mobility and/or Rogers Wireless (via AMPS) in Canada), and location information using GPS technology. Drivers and passengers can use its audio interface to contact OnStar representatives for emergency services, vehicle diagnostics and directions. OnStar equipped vehicles with an active subscription will also contact representatives, based out of Troy, Michigan; Charlotte, North Carolina; Makati, Philippines; and Oshawa, Ontario in the event of a collision where the airbags are deployed. Newer models will contact OnStar in any type of collision whether airbags deploy or not. This new service is called Advanced Automatic Collision Notification (AACN) and is designed to greatly enhance emergency response efforts. Advanced Mobile Phone System or AMPS is the analog mobile phone system standard, introduced in the Americas during the early 1980s. ... General Information Generically (as a multiplexing scheme), code division multiple access (CDMA) is any use of any form of spread spectrum by multiple transmitters to send to the same receiver on the same frequency channel at the same time without harmful interference. ... Cellco Partnership, doing business as Verizon Wireless, is the largest American wireless company and largest wireless data provider, based on revenue. ... Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S) is one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world. ... This article is about the wireless subsidiary of AT&T. For the defunct wireless provider that was merged into Cingular in 2004, see AT&T Wireless Services. ... TELUS (TSX: T, NYSE: TU) is a Canadian telecommunications firm, the countrys second-largest telecommunications carrier after Bell Canada, with C$8. ... Bell Mobility is the division of Bell Canada which sells wireless services in Canada. ... Rogers AT&T Wireless logo when Rogers wireless division was in partnership with AT&T Rogers Wireless, formerly known as Rogers AT&T Wireless, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Rogers Communications. ... Over fifty GPS satellites such as this NAVSTAR have been launched since 1978. ... Troy is a city in Oakland County of the U.S. state of Michigan. ... Charlotte redirects here. ... Makati City is one of the most important cities in the Philippines in terms of finance and commerce. ... Oshawa (estimated 2004 population 150 000; metropolitan population 296 298) is a city on Lake Ontario located approximately 60 km east of downtown Toronto in Ontario, Canada. ... Advanced Automatic Collision Notification (AACN) is also known as Advanced Automatic Crash Notification and is the successor to Automatic Collision Notification (ACN). ...


When a driver presses the Red OnStar Emergency button or Blue OnStar button, current vehicle data and the user's GPS location are immediately gathered. This information is then sent to OnStar. OnStar Emergency calls are routed to the OnStar Center with highest priority. Two centers exist to receive emergency calls: Charlotte, North Carolina and Oshawa, Ontario; and all centers are open 24 hours a day. Charlotte redirects here. ... Oshawa (estimated 2004 population 150 000; metropolitan population 296 298) is a city on Lake Ontario located approximately 60 km east of downtown Toronto in Ontario, Canada. ...


Starting 2009, General Motors will equip new vehicles with an updated version that allows police to remotely halt the vehicle.[1] Customers can opt out of that function, but critics doubt that this decision will be honored in all cases. Also it could give someone who hacked into the system control over the car.[2]


Verizon Wireless currently offers the "America's Choice Plan with OnStar," which is a bundle plan between Verizon Wireless service and OnStar service. [5] With this plan, the Verizon Wireless phone is the "primary line" and the OnStar device is the "secondary line." This plan is actually based around the "Family SharePlan," with rates starting at $69.99 USD for 700 minutes. [6] Cellco Partnership, doing business as Verizon Wireless, is the largest American wireless company and largest wireless data provider, based on revenue. ...

Contents

History

OnStar was founded in 1995 as a collaboration between GM, EDS and Hughes Electronics Corp. Each of the founding companies brought a specific area of expertise to the enterprise: GM brought vehicle design and integration and a distribution system of millions of vehicles, EDS brought much of the systems development and information management and customer service technologies, while Hughes contributed communications and satellite technology and automotive electronics.


In 1996, then GM North America Operations President Rick Wagoner officially launched OnStar at the Chicago Auto Show. OnStar delivered its first product and service to the market in 11 months - in the fall of 1996 for model year 1997 Cadillac DeVille, Seville and Eldorado models.


In April, 2006, GM notified approximately 500,000 of their OnStar customers who have analog service that their service would be terminated effective December 31, 2007, because as of that date the FCC would no longer require cell phone carriers to operate in analog mode. If the vehicle is from the 2003, 2004, or 2005 model year, an adapter costing approximately $200 (includes a One year subscription)can be installed at the customer's expense. If it is older, it will simply no longer be usable. [3] A law firm in Pennsylvania representing some of the affected customers sought to have a class certified for a class action lawsuit for damages claimed in the cancellation of OnStar service.[4] Look up analog, analogue in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The abbreviation FCC can refer to: Face-centered cubic (usually fcc), a crystallographic structure Federal Communications Commission, a US government organization Farm Credit Corporation/Farm Credit Canada, a Canadian government organization Families with Children from China, an adoption support organization Florida Christian College, a college in central Florida Fresno City...


Advocacy

OnStar advocates tout it as an essential safety tool. GM commercials have compared it to seatbelts and airbags, as the next major technology for safe driving. The benefits, they say, include its ability to aid police in tracking down stolen vehicles; contacting emergency medical services in case of an accident (should the driver request this or be non-responsive); notifying drivers of potentially dangerous mechanical problems; emails are sent to owners that give a diagnostics of their vehicle every month if subscribed to; and unlocking doors for drivers (after verifying authorization over the phone) should their keys be misplaced or locked inside their car. OnStar's basic subscription also includes Roadside assistance, as well HFC (Hands Free Calling) which is integrated into the OnStar system and operates in the same way as a regular cell phone does except that it is operated through voice recognition. Advanced Automatic Collision Notification allows emergency advisors to provide emergency medical services (EMS) with additional crash information such as rollover status, direction of impact, which airbags have deployed (front, side etc,) and the Delta V-Force which is a medical measure of the intensity of an impact. All this information allows EMS to respond to the crash with appropriate equipment. A three-point seat belt. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... Advanced Automatic Collision Notification (AACN) is also known as Advanced Automatic Crash Notification and is the successor to Automatic Collision Notification (ACN). ...


Advertising Campaign

GM promoted the service with radio commercials demonstrating how it would work. It provided the recording of someone interacting with OnStar in various scenarios designed to show its utility. The commercials stated that these were recordings of actual instances of customers using the services, and gave the date on which they occurred. Scenarios included: someone whose airbag had deployed receiving a "check-in" call from OnStar, someone contacting OnStar to have his car unlocked when the keys were inside, and someone in an accident receiving help through OnStar in contacting emergency services that may presumably have otherwise taken longer to summon. The purpose of the last was to show how OnStar could provide the exact physical location of a caller in distress to Emergency Services, and remain on the line after Emergency services disconnects to ensure that if a caller's physical condition were to deteriorate, Emergency services could be promptly updated.


Criticism

Critics raise questions about whether police or others could make use of OnStar's tracking, whether legally or illegally, for surveillance or stalking. Privacy advocates worry that innocent citizens may be hassled by the authorities due to false alarms. At least one group, OnStar Privacy, has dedicated a website to privacy concerns of the service. For other uses, see Surveillance (disambiguation). ... Stalking (from Middle English stalk: from Old English bestealcian; akin to Old English stelan to steal) is a legal term for repeated harassment or other forms of invasion of a persons privacy in a manner that causes fear to its target. ... False alarms, also known as nuisance alarms are usually associated with malfunctioning fire and security alarm systems. ...


Concerns have also been raised about what could be done with the data collected and stored by the vehicles' event data recorders, which are analogous to those on airplanes but not as sophisticated and do not currently function as a digital recorder. For example, privacy advocates worry that auto dealers could use data to suggest that the user engaged in reckless driving and therefore violated the terms of the vehicle’s warranty, or insurance companies could use said data as the basis for denying claims. An example of a FDR (Flight Data Recorder). ... This article refers to the tool of travel. ... In commercial and consumer transactions, a warranty is an obligation that an article or service sold is as factually stated or legally implied by the seller, and that often provides for a specific remedy such as repair or replacement in the event the article or service fails to meet the...


Voice monitoring capability is marketed as OnStar Hands-Free Calling [7]. The use of this type of capability by law enforcement is subject to legal debate and some technical impediments [8]. OnStar maintains that it is unable to "listen to, view, or record the content of calls"[9].


OnStar maintains that it is committed to maintaining the privacy of its customers.[10] OnStar is only aware of the present (and previous) position of the vehicle when its OnStar equipment calls OnStar with data updates (or certain other circumstances). OnStar will release information about a vehicle only for marketing research, to protect the rights, property, of safety of any person, in exigent circumstances, to prevent misuse of their service, when legally required to do so or when subject to a valid court order, or in various other circumstances.


Hardware

GM is currently deploying OnStar Generation 7 hardware that includes enhanced services and diagnostics.


OnStar hardware is currently manufactured by Continental AG, although early models were made by Delphi and Motorola. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Delphi logo from 2005 Delphi (NASDAQ: DPHIQ) is an automotive parts company headquartered in Troy, Michigan. ...


References

  1. ^ [1]GM OnStar System Could Halt Stolen Cars (Associated Press, 2007-10-09)
  2. ^ [2]"Device can remotely halt auto chases" Chris Woodyard, USA TODAY, 2007-10-09
  3. ^ [3] Benton, Joe "OnStar Goes Digital, GM to Drop 500,000 Subscribers." April 10, 2007. Consumeraffairs.com. Retrieved May 1, 2007
  4. ^ [4] "Class action sought for OnStar suit. Times-Leader, Pennsylvania, May 1, 2007. Retrieved May 1, 2007.

See also

Italic textA vehicle tracking system is an electronic device installed in a vehicle to enable the owner or a third party to track the vehicles location. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... LoJack is a popular device, installed in some cars, that allows them to be tracked after being stolen. ... BMW Assist is typically activated using the SOS button BMW Assist is a cellular based automotive roadside assistance service offered by BMW. BMW Assist is similar to GMs OnStar or Mercedes-Benz MAYDAY services as they both use the cellular network and Global Positioning telemetry to locate or guide... Advanced Automatic Collision Notification (AACN) is also known as Advanced Automatic Crash Notification and is the successor to Automatic Collision Notification (ACN). ...

External links and sources


 

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