Most of you are familiar with GM's OnStar system, which connects your car to a centralized facility. Depending on the plan you have, OnStar and its operators can give you navigation directions, unlock your doors, call an ambulance if you have a crash, send you an update of your car's maintenance requirements, and even slow your vehicle to a crawl if it's being driven away by a thief.
But the other day, I learned about a few changes that OnStar is proposing to make to its system, effective December 1, 2011. When these go through, GM buyers will be well-advised to read the fine print on their contracts. These proposed changes include:
Data connection - If you or OnStar cancels the service, OnStar still maintains the two-way connection "and may continue to collect data from your vehicle." If you don't want the company to do this, you have to call OnStar, request the connection be deactivated, and then wait up to 60 days for it to take effect.
Stolen vehicle slowdown - Owners have always been able to have the Stolen Vehicle Slowdown disabled if they didn't want the police and OnStar to be able to slow the vehicle down in the event of theft. Under the new proposal, if you decide you want this feature removed, you won't be able to receive any other OnStar services. Technically, it's not a mandatory feature - it's now just mandatory that you accept it if you also want OnStar to unlock your doors or send you a navigation route.
Data collected - OnStar says that "we may use the data we gather about you and your vehicle to improve the quality of our service and offerings, and may share the data we collect with law enforcement or other public safety officials, credit card processors, and/or third parties we contract with who conduct joint marketing initiatives with OnStar." Some of the data it collects on your vehicle includes its tire pressure, odometer reading, whether you've paired a mobile phone, crash information including the direction from which you were hit and if you were wearing a seatbelt, and even if your ignition is turned on or off when you put gas in the vehicle.
Under certain conditions, which can include a request for service, airbag deployment, request for Stolen Vehicle Assistance, or when required by law, OnStar may also collect information on the location and approximate speed of your vehicle, based on GPS. The company may also collect this information "for any purpose, at any time, provided that following collection of such location and speed information identifiable to your vehicle, it is shared only on an anonymized basis."
