Is OnStar a Necessary Safety Feature of the Future?

What are some of the key safety features that you would expect in a car built anytime from the 1990s up to now? I would certainly include adjustable seats, power windows and door locks, seatbelts, airbags, antilock brakes, and windshield wipers as necessities in every car built during this time. With all the recent achievements in technology, however, the list simply cannot stop there. I am adding to this list a very interesting company that is run and marketed by General Motors: OnStar. OnStar is a roadside assistance company similar to AAA, but better. In addition to roadside assistance, it also allows drivers to call in for turn-by-turn directions, just like a GPS. The company was founded in 1995 as a collaboration between GM, Electronic Data Systems, and the Hughes Electronic Corporation, and has become an option in most GM vehicles ever since. Unlike AAA, OnStar provides roadside assistance to drivers in real-time, right when drivers need it.
For example, let’s say that Jimmy, a GM vehicle owner and OnStar customer, is in an accident driving home from the bar late on a Saturday night. Jimmy’s vehicle automatically contacts OnStar, which sends a signal to the police to send emergency assistance. An OnStar representative then contacts Jimmy through the vehicle’s sound system to see whether or not he is injured, and then stays on the line with him until help arrives. Within a few minutes, the authorities arrive with an ambulance and a tow truck, and take Jimmy or anyone else involved in the accident to the hospital if necessary. The wrecked vehicle(s) and debris are removed from the road immediately to ensure the safety of other drivers. All of this is possible even if Jimmy is knocked out from the crash or from drinking too much that night (God forbid anyone make the decision to drink and drive, but it still happens nonetheless).
Had Jimmy not been an OnStar customer and gotten into this accident, he could have been in far greater danger. If he was unconscious for whatever reason during the crash, he would not have been able to notify the authorities of his situation. Moreover, depending on the severity of the accident, Jimmy and/or others involved may have even died or been close to death. With OnStar in his vehicle, however, authorities would have arrived on the scene fast enough to take them to the hospital and possibly save their lives. OnStar is also a very useful tool to the police, as it helps them allocate their time and resources efficiently. Based on this example, the police were contacted by OnStar at the exact time of the accident and were given enough information to bring the necessary resources as fast as possible. As you can see, OnStar is a very useful and necessary tool to ensure the absolute safety of drivers.
OnStar has also recently begun working with authorities in a much different fashion than the example presented above. In the wee hours of the morning on October 20th, a man and his cousin were robbed at gunpoint of their wallet and car—a 2009 Chevy Tahoe—while sitting in a dimly lit parking lot in Visalia, California. The two men began running, looking for a pay phone to notify the authorities. In a stroke of luck, they managed to run into an off-duty sheriff before finding a phone, who then notified the Visalia police. Police spotted the vehicle a few miles from the site of the carjacking, but as they turned to pursue it, the thief took off at high speed. Officers in the station immediately contacted OnStar and got the man’s permission to disable the captured Tahoe via satellite. Dispatchers notified the pursuing officers before the vehicle was finally disabled. The suspect was apprehended with little or no harm done to the man’s Tahoe, and he faces several charges of armed robbery, carjacking, and resisting arrest. The vehicle was disabled 16 minutes from the time that the Visalia police contacted OnStar.
This new technology, only available on select 2009 and 2010 GM models, helped save lives according to the Visalia Police. Pursuing officers, other drivers, and even the thief were all kept from getting involved in a dangerous car chase. This event alone speaks volumes for the necessity of OnStar as a safety feature in all vehicles, not just GM models. It is as important a safety feature as the seatbelt and the airbag, and eventually all car companies will offer OnStar services or something like it. It is a young and growing industry right now, however, and I do not believe that it has fully caught on yet. Some argue that it never will. There are growing concerns about privacy and surveillance among other things. OnStar can see in one click where a driver went, how fast they were going, when they were there, how often the brakes were applied, and if the airbags were deployed or not. There are also concerns about car dealers or insurance companies using this information against drivers, who could use the information collected by OnStar to void the vehicle’s warranty or deny insurance claims. Once all of these things are sorted out, OnStar will be a must-have safety feature on every vehicle. Based on the examples presented above, I would definitely feel much safer driving on the road with OnStar than without it.


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