WomanOnWheels.ca

OnStar listened! (But won't after you cancel your service...)

OnStar recently ruffled feathers - mine included, as you can read here - with a proposal to its terms and conditions that would maintain a connection between the company and your vehicle even after you cancelled the service.

I definitely wasn't the only one complaining about it, and no doubt thanks to all of the media outlets, bloggers and customers who made a fuss about it, OnStar has backed down. Originally, if you (or OnStar) cancelled the car-connection service, OnStar would still maintain its connection unless you called the company and specifically asked for them to take their electronic hands entirely off your vehicle. Disconnecting could take up to 60 days from that point.

Under the new policy, OnStar will only stay linked to your vehicle if you call and tell them that it's okay.

The company originally wanted to maintain the connection because then it could warn you about natural disasters or recalls affecting your vehicle, and it would have helped in "planning future services." (We have a GM car that had a recall on it. We got a notice in the mail, but nobody from OnStar dialed the car while we were driving it to let us know.)

I'm still rather gobsmacked that OnStar figured that if a customer didn't want the service, it would still be okay to keep the satellite watching over him and possibly gleaning information from his vehicle. At least it had the sense to step down when it discovered that no, we really aren't ready to act out the plot of 1984 in the so-called privacy of our own vehicles.

GM's OnStar: Big help, or Big Brother?

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."