OnStar question - can they operate when not on subscription?

Listening to local police on scanner, heard them tracking an older GM vehicle - '98 Olds, that they apparently were trying to find. One officer was apparently on phone with some tracking source..... Now my question, can OnStar track and possibly disable a vehicle if that vehicle is not currently on subscription with OnStar?

Other option would be a police clandestinely added GPS unit, but they were talking of not"pinging" the vehicle, so as not to alert driver.

The GPS in the car would still work and the On Star center can find or track the vehicle. It is not necessary to have a subscription. GM told us the GPS works even for emergency situations even if there is not a subscription, you just can not use the service from the vehicle end. I noticed when I got vehicles with On Star our insurance rates went down.

(quoted from post at 13:50:19 12/21/11) The GPS in the car would still work and the On Star center can find or track the vehicle. It is not necessary to have a subscription. GM told us the GPS works even for emergency situations even if there is not a subscription, you just can not use the service from the vehicle end. I noticed when I got vehicles with On Star our insurance rates went down.

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If you're the owner of a fairly new General Motors product, you may want to take a close look at the most recent OnStar terms and conditions. As it turns out, the company has altered the parameters under which it can legally collect GPS data on your vehicle.

Originally, the terms and conditions stated that OnStar could only collect information on your vehicle's location during a theft recovery or in the midst of sending emergency services your way. That has apparently changed. Now, OnStar says that it has the right to collect and sell personal, yet supposedly anonymous information on your vehicle, including speed, location, seat belt usage and other information.

Who would be interested in that data, you ask? Law enforcement agencies, for starters, as well as insurance companies. Perhaps the most startling news to come out of the latest OnStar terms and conditions is the fact that the company can continue to collect the information even after you disconnect the service. If you want the info to be cut off all together, you'll have to specifically shut down the vehicle's data connection. If that sounds scary, you should check out a full breakdown of the new policies here.
New Terms & Conditions

The following statement can be attributed to Joanne Finnorn, Vice President, Subscriber Services

"OnStar has and always will give our customers the choice in how we use their data. We've also been very open with our customers about changes in services and privacy terms.

"Under our new Terms and Conditions, when a customer cancels service, we have informed customers that OnStar will maintain a two-way connection to their vehicle unless they ask us not to do so. In the future, this connection may provide us with the capability to alert vehicle occupants about severe weather conditions such as tornado warnings or mandatory evacuations. Another benefit for keeping this connection "open" could be to provide vehicle owners with any updated warranty data or recall issues.

"Of course, if the customer requests us to turn off the two-way connection, we will do as we have always done, and that is honor customers' requests.

"Our guiding practices regarding sharing our subscribers' personal information have not changed. We are always very specific about with whom we share customers' personal information, and how they will use it. We have never sold any personally identifiable information to any third party.

"Keeping the two-way connection open will also allow OnStar to capture general vehicle information that could be used in future product development.

"We apologize for creating any confusion about our Terms and Conditions. We want to make sure we are as clear with our customers as possible, but it's apparent that we have failed to do this. As always, we are listening to our subscribers' feedback and we will continue to be open to their suggestions and concerns."

Heard a story about a blonde with on-star. Seems she locked herself in the vehicle, and had to press the on-star button. Very pleasant on-star girl answered her, and unlocked the door for her. She thanked the girl for unlocking the car so she could now get out and get her keys off the hood!

So what would happen if you just cut the antenna?

Cow Breeder - speaking of insurance - my insurance company sent a notice about some kind of gadget they could connect to my car that would monitor my driving and perhaps lower my rate. I didn't bite on it for no real reason other than sounding like too much hassle for an old man too fool with. Seems like it was a temporary thing that they provided for a short time. Also looked to me like it could raise my rate if they didn't like the way I drive.

As far as the onstar monitoring controversy - who in their right mind would be interested in what I'm doing or where I'm going. I'm just not that "important".

they didn't have on star in 98.

GM also uses onstar to update or "flash" computer software programs on the car, they can provide service without having to pay a dealer to do the work.

My Son had Insurance with the Company that has the box that attaches to your computer plugin in car. went to that insutance co because it was cheaper than State Farm. In 6 months his insurance had raised untill it was 3 times as high as his old Co. He droped them and went back to old Co. Their Low prices are just a come on.

Come to think of it, the OnStar on our 2002 went obsolete when they went from analog to digital. Somehow, they were actually using cell phone connections for at least some of their traffic, and when cells went digital, ours would no longer operate. And they didn"t offer an upgrade. But then, what they offered seemed pretty costly for what we needed, and we never participated.

On ours, the antenna was connected to the module in the rear quarter panel. Connection would have simply unscrewed, leaving system pretty much out of communications. Connection was similar to a coax connection on the back of a TV.

As mentioned, there was no OnStar in '98. Onstar will still disable a vehicle if it being used as a get away vehicle, stolen, poilce want you(for whatever reason). Only way I would think you could disable it would be to disconnect the antenna from the car, not cut the antenna, but remove the antenna and all wire back to the OnStar module. To test, try to call Onstar.

My State Farm Agent just got me to subscribe to their On-Star monitoring to reduce my insurance rates. I agreed as I drive low miles, below the speed limit, and am a safe driver.

Mark

Could it have been a Lo-Jack unit? A friend that is a deputy has a Lo-Jack sensor in his patrol car, that will pick up the signal from a stolen car.

No doubt they are protecting you privacy while selling all your details?

Why not? They have the data link and system is paid for. An outside company could be interested in people's driving habits even if the data was anonymous.

Also, what happens when someone hacks the system someday? They could randomly shutdown vehicles and create all kinds of havoc. It's not likely, but it certainly is possible.

Don't give the bored little masterminds any ideas on how they can feel important!

Privacy is a delusion. If you have a permanent mailing address, you have no privacy, and some monitoring service knowing that you drove to the grocery store on Tuesday afternoon isn't going to compromise your privacy any more than it already has been.

There's just so much information out there that unless you're doing something really obviously bad, you're going to get lost in the crowd.

Onstar is monitoring hundreds of thousands of paying customers. They are in the business to make money. Do you really think they're wasting money keeping detailed records of non-subscriber driving habits?