OnStar Stops High-Speed Chase

this "service" will probably raise a debate between those who value privacy and those who advocate security at any cost.

those who value privacy will think this enables TPTB to monitor them in real-time, while those who advocate security will say, "this is just like a gun - it's better to have it and not have to use it, than not having it and wishing you had one during a time of danger to you or your family."

positive "technological progress" always bears with it it's negative side.

Maybe the car is like a gun and this is an external safety catch?

the next step would be for the police to "fire" command codes at a car to stop it

it would mean less material for police-chase tv shows but fewer casualties and less collateral damage

TPTB can already monitor us via cellphones, but it seems people are prepared to sacrifice privacy for convenience in that case. A lot has to do with perception, the car was around long before the cellphone and is symbolic of freedom despite the cost.

it would mean less material for police-chase tv shows but fewer casualties and less collateral damage

Uunngh...probably not, once upon a time cops may have had a public safety perspective when performing traffic stops but no more. It's common to find a traffic stop in the most unlikely bass akward unsafe positions possible. Just imagine the carnage possible with this tech

Yeah, this works well. But I still prefer the Trunk Monkey.

http://www.trunkmonkeyad.com/

I agree with the privacy concerns. The Homeland Security folks will probably be able to track and OnStar car any time they care too. Better not take the GM to visit the mistress!

Now the next question - will such evidence be admissable in court? Or does it fall under heresay?

I'll agree with the privacy concerns, however as far as being followed if you leave your cell phone on they know every place you've been, moral of the story call the mistress and then shut the phone off.

Voluntarily installing a remote shut off to protect a valuable vehicle, great. But I want the button. The last thing I need is more big brother, or a computer virus shutting down every GM vehicle on the planet. So I won't be buying anything that is equipped with On Star.

They will take my throttle when they pull my cold dead foot off of it. Besides high speed chase and SUV is an oxymoron.

"Besides high speed chase and SUV is an oxymoron". It's not the high speed chase that kills so many young teens and their passengers every year, it's the sudden stop when they hit a tree, telephone pole, bridge abutment or another vehicle head on. Do you think a big city police force would like to have such a "vehicle stopper" for drive-by shooters, bank robbers, for a vehicle operator who has just grabbed a 7-year old girl off the street, at a bus stop, etc? Would you be an advocate if it was your daughter who was grabbed?

Here in Southern California multiple incidents of attempted kidnapping, a college girl raped, and I believe two drive by shootings this week, besides being HORRIFIC crimes the other thing they had in common is nobody got a license number of the vehicles involved so in these cases On Starr is useless.

Item two is it is taken me about 15 seconds of online research to determine how to defeat the on star system I guarantee the bad guys already know how our will know how to subvert the system shortly. Again hear in California many years ago car thieves had built little black boxes to use the cars own alarm systems to unlock the doors of their victims cars.

Personally I do not respond to the seven year old girl sensationalism with an immediate decision to advocate more big brother or turning over control of my vehicle to someone somewhere without knowing more. Without going into detail their has already has been abuses of the on star system.

This is not to say that there are not potential safety benefits for these types of systems, and anyone that wants to install them in their vehicle should do so.

In the case of if I had a seven year old daughter, she would have a cell phone with tracking software installed, I believe they were making phones for just this type of situation IE children, and the tracking software will immediately alert you if there are of their assigned area, or they're moving too fast for example they are in a car and are not supposed to be.

I've already posted links to this type of software on another forum, and you can also google cellphone tracking software.

As far as stopping high speed chases there is new equipment on the way out to do that. If the bad guy has decided that he is going to do a drive by, rob a bank, there may not be any plates on the vehicle, the microwave devices are 100% reliable in that you don't need to know the license number of the vehicle in order for them to work.

http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5907290/description.html

http://people.howstuffworks.com/police-chase.htm/printable

The incidence of fatalities with individuals drag racing on the street have increased dramatically, I'm sure it's partly due to less secluded areas available, but I think it's also a different Attitude. I would be lying if I said I hadn't done my share of street racing, three things you didn't want were to hurt somebody or yourself, wrecking the vehicle, or a ticket. So we used to go find secluded industrial sections, now there drag racing in residential neighborhoods.

The on star system will be of little use in stopping a 15 second drag race, it will take too long to implement, a high powered microwave device if the cop happens to be in observation of the race is instantaneous.

A good percentage of these high speed chases are actually moderate speed with some idiot either not wanting to pull over for a simple traffic ticket, or the I wanna be on TV mentality.

But hey it's just my opinion. I put far more trust in the single police officer than I do supporting a system that could be mandated, increase the cost of the vehicle by another 500 to 1000 dollars, be subject to abuse by bureaucracy, a minimum wage employee someplace, or a hacker just having fun. Also consider that the system is easily defeated. I do not feel any need to help a potential bad guy do this, but it will require virtually zero time.

If something can possibly fail, it surely will.

And how will the police be sure of the exact vehicle serial number after several owners and fixes and repairs, changes of color and modifications?

I wouldn't like to be driving home, on a steep incline and my car just shuts off, because the police commands interferred with my (then old) built-in receiver.

If you ever had a crossed phone call, then it can also happen to your car's receiver.

Also, no matter how complex a system is, at the end it has only one transistor to turn ON/OFF whatever devices, so false contacts, leakage currents, loose connections or simply a bad transistor (assuming everything else is OK), can turn you down.

Yahlasit

Currently many states are selling transponders that are used for high speed toll collecting. If police cars were equipped with transponder readers, the exact vehicle ID could be verified. Once that is verified, shutting down a vehicle, or allowing an idle only condition is only the next step.

I think this is great. They can stop Felons from getting away also.