OnStar stops high speed chase

Wobble

Charter Member
I was wondering when this was going to happen, as I had been told it was possible. Great way to stop a potentially lethal chase, but it also has me wondering about the ongoing implications


By TOM KRISHER AP Auto Writer © 2009 The Associated Press
Oct. 19, 2009, 5:36PM
When two Visalia, Calif., police officers swung their cruisers behind a sport utility vehicle that had been carjacked at gunpoint early Sunday, they prepared for a dangerous high-speed chase.

The 2009 Chevrolet Tahoe roared away with officers in pursuit, but shortly after the suspect made a right turn, operators at General Motors Co.'s OnStar service sent a command that electronically disabled the gas pedal and the SUV gradually came to a halt.

The flustered thief got out and ran, but was quickly nabbed after he climbed several fences and fell into a backyard swimming pool, police said.

It was the first time since OnStar began offering the service in the 2009 model year that it was used to end a chase that could otherwise have had dire consequences.

"He wouldn't have pulled over if OnStar hadn't have shut the vehicle down," said Visalia Police Sgt. Steve Phillips. "Generally pursuits end in a collision."

The whole thing began when Jose Ruiz, 33, of nearby Lindsay, Calif., was sitting in his Tahoe in a lighted parking lot about 3 a.m. Sunday while his cousin was talking on a cell phone in the passenger seat. Out of the corner of his eye, Ruiz saw a man walking toward him.

"He already had a gun out," Ruiz said Monday.

The man pointed a sawed-off shotgun at Ruiz and ordered both men to get out of the Tahoe and empty their pockets. Ruiz's cousin at first refused, but Ruiz told him to obey, knowing that OnStar could find the stolen truck with a global positioning system.

"I was afraid he was going to shoot my cousin. My cousin was arguing with him,"


More here http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/business/6675311.html
 
Good story (that matches the TV commercial)..... but the big brother aspect is not great. My wife's 09 Yukon has OnStar that emails her monthly with the odometer reading, oil life left and tire pressure on all 4 tires and if any services/recalls are do. But when the free year of service is up it will not be renewed.

One thought on the OnStar: Why not disable the vehicle immediately after the theft and the GPS location will tell the tow truck/cops where to recover it? Why did they wait until the police chase started?
 
Good story (that matches the TV commercial)..... but the big brother aspect is not great. My wife's 09 Yukon has OnStar that emails her monthly with the odometer reading, oil life left and tire pressure on all 4 tires and if any services/recalls are do. But when the free year of service is up it will not be renewed.

One thought on the OnStar: Why not disable the vehicle immediately after the theft and the GPS location will tell the tow truck/cops where to recover it? Why did they wait until the police chase started?

My guess is there is a verification proceedure that takes time. Otherwise the bad guys could call and have your car disabled in the middle of no-where.
 
big brother aspect?? eventually, your going to get a ticket in the mail, because your vehicle telemtry/gps system said you were doing 75 in a 65.............
 
big brother aspect?? eventually, your going to get a ticket in the mail, because your vehicle telemtry/gps system said you were doing 75 in a 65.............

Europe will be the first on that.

In France I got an instant fine for arriving at the next toll booth too early, had to pay with a CC. I understand that this varies from toll road to toll road
 
If you shoot the fleeing driver in the chest from an overpass, they stop too.




Why they allow these people to go on these insane chases is beyond me.
 
Europe will be the first on that.

In France I got an instant fine for arriving at the next toll booth too early, had to pay with a CC. I understand that this varies from toll road to toll road

Couple of the toll roads out east are already that way.
 
If you shoot the fleeing driver in the chest from an overpass, they stop too.




Why they allow these people to go on these insane chases is beyond me.

I've always said they should have RPG's on cop cars.....:sifone:
 
In France I got an instant fine for arriving at the next toll booth too early, had to pay with a CC.

I would go to France willingly for one reason and one reason only. To exhume American servicemen and return them home. Those SOB's don't deserve to have their graves on their soil.
 
I would go to France willingly for one reason and one reason only. To exhume American servicemen and return them home. Those SOB's don't deserve to have their graves on their soil.

I was returning from a race we did in Belgium back to the shop in the UK.
 
Europe will be the first on that.

In France I got an instant fine for arriving at the next toll booth too early, had to pay with a CC. I understand that this varies from toll road to toll road


you should get an instant fine just for going to France..... :rofl:
 
Regarding the first post: there is a scene from the movie Idiocracy that is almost the exact same scenario.
 
I would go to France willingly for one reason and one reason only. To exhume American servicemen and return them home. Those SOB's don't deserve to have their graves on their soil.

Although I haven't been there, it's reported that the fine folks in Normandy remember our soldiers well and respect the heck out of the Allied efforts. Now I can't say that for the balance of the country.
 
The Frenchies didn't want the US in their airspace a few years ago when we sent fighters to bomb Khadafi's house. They didn't mind the US in their airspace in WWII.
 
Back to the big brother thing..the problem with modern technology is that it lacks the human quality of common sense. back when I was in California, my company got a ticket in the mail because a camera cought me taking the long beach toll road without a fast pass. couple hundred dollar fine. My boss gave me thicket and I called the company listed and asked them to look at the picture... the guy said ok. It was then that I stated "well, look at the vehicle I am driving... IT'S A PHUCKING AMBULANCE WITH THE LIGHTS ON!!!" he dismissed it, but not before trying to charge me a $15 fee for dismissing it. WTF!!!
 
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