News, Stop, thief! OnStar will brake stolen cars. (alarm, brakes, engine)

[John1960]

GM's OnStar unveils feature that will allow operators to aid police by remotely cutting engine power on stolen cars.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- General Motors' OnStar division announced Tuesday that it is introducing a service that will put the brakes on car thieves.

New OnStar feature aimed at stopping stolen cars - Oct. 9, 2007

[Nashcash23]

I think this will be great . Luxury brands have'nt even thought of this yet .

[bryfry]

Sounds like another GM nightmare to me.

[rd2007]

Nightmare? I've never heard anything bad about OnStar and as a matter of fact, we're leaving in about an hour to pick up the Trailblazer my daughter just bought. I personally love the idea of her, as a 20 year old female, having something like OnStar.. We've lost three people around here in the past month or so from accidents where they went off the road and died later. I would much rather the car called 911 and someone was out to rescue her rather than spending hours, or in some cases, days and weeks trying to find the person.. father's worst nightmare there... or at least one of the many nightmares the father of a daughter has..

but back to the topic, I love this idea and too bad it sounds like it's going to be pretty restricted.. I would much rather they stopped and locked the car and then contacted me so I could do a little meet and greet with the car thief.. there would be justice and it wouldn't waste a dime of taxpayer money... plus the person is automatically guilty because there is absolutely zero reasons why someone else will legally be driving my car..

[citybythebay]

With as many police chases that go wrong involving chasing stolen cars or crack heads which usually more often than not, involve innocent parties being injured in the process...I only see this as a positive than a negative. Good for GM.

[Dd714]

Probably a good idea for the joy-ride types. Otherwise it will be something that a capable thief will learn to disable in a few minutes as soon as they grab a car, that and the fact that most thieves have your car at a chop shop and in pieces by the time you learn your car is stolen.

This is actually old tech, plenty of automobile security systems have car shut off systems. For the most part ineffective for the reasons listed above.

[wankel7]

Yeah, I would guess a theif could figure a work around. I guess the downside is the onstar install is going to be standard. Where an alarm system install might have varations that make it unique for every car they steal.

But still...if the OnStar system does something like cut all power to the ECU of the car...its not going anywhere...at all.

Or maybe if the system blows a fuseable link somewhere...where you really cant do a quick work around. Who knows...but still a really neat idea.

Once the word gets around...it might be enough of a deterant to just stay away from that car perirod.

James

[rd2007]

I was thinking the same thing wankel7. just integrate OnStar into the ignition system and the problem is pretty much solved, especially if they make it smart like adding a call for an encrypted signal of some sort in order to function..

I also feel it'll lower the appeal to thieves like the house with many dogs. I seriously doubt anyone would want to deal with the four I have behind my door..

[Alanboy395]

I wish they had this onstar service in the honda accord. Accords are really popular with car theives and i'm a little afraid for mine.