OnStar Unveils Stolen Vehicle Slowdown LBS

Oct 9, 2007
GPS World


Car maker General Motors' location-based services (LBS) subsidiary OnStar said today that it has demonstrated technology that will gradually and safely slow down a stolen vehicle.
OnStar Stolen Vehicle Slowdown will allow advisors working with law enforcement services to send a signal to limit fuel flow to the engine, gradually slowing down the stolen vehicle. The idea behind the technology is to prevent a potentially dangerous high-speed chase, as well as aid in recovery of the vehicle.

Stolen Vehicle Slowdown is an enhancement to OnStar's Stolen Vehicle Location Assistance, which uses GPS to pinpoint the location of a vehicle reported stolen. OnStar receives approximately 700 Stolen Vehicle Location Assistance requests from subscribers a month, and has helped in 28,000 requests over the past decade.

Stolen Vehicle Slowdown is powered by Onstar's newest generation of hardware, and it will be available on nearly 1.7 million 2009-model vehicles in the United States and Canada.

The process for Stolen Vehicle Slowdown is as follows:

Once the vehicle has been reported stolen to law enforcement, the subscriber can call OnStar and request Stolen Vehicle Location Assistance.
OnStar will use real-time GPS technology to attempt to pinpoint the exact location of the stolen vehicle and provide this information to law enforcement.
When law enforcement has established a clear line of sight of the stolen vehicle, officers can request OnStar to slow it down remotely.
Safeguards are in place to ensure that the correct vehicle is slowed down, according to GM.
OnStar then sends a remote signal to the vehicle, slowing it down gradually.
Research has shown that 95 percent of OnStar subscribers want the Stolen Vehicle Slowdown service available on their cars and trucks, according to the company. In addition, OnStar continues to rank as one of the top reasons why customers purchase GM vehicles, the car maker says. OnStar subscribers have the choice to opt out of the Stolen Vehicle Slowdown service at any time if they prefer not to have this capability on their vehicle. This will not affect the rest of their OnStar services, the company says.

OnStar's suite of services also includes Advanced Automatic Crash Notification, Emergency Services, Remote Door Unlock, Roadside Assistance, Crisis Assist, OnStar Turn-by-Turn Navigation, Hands-Free Calling and OnStar Vehicle Diagnostics.

well that just means that i will NEVER have on-star in any truck i own.

Gee, if they can do that, why not pump in a little krylon gas while its slowing down.

End of problem!