Regarding theft tracking, that is usually a fee-based feature that is easily foiled by disabling the antenna or the logic portion of the hardware.

When factory installed, it is also almost always installed in the same location for a given model. A thief can easily do a little research and find that hardware and disable it. Look at the Escalade - one of the most stolen vehicles and the brain box for OnStar is behind the glove box.

I am also unaware of any telematic systems with a battery back-up.

I have called in accidents to be told units have already been dispatched or been told several have already called. If you have statistics or a reference, I'd like to see it.

Regarding speed tracking, it's not "people", it is only a few lines of code that can easily be stored unknown to many or all at a call center. IIRC, there was speed tracking occuring on the east coast for commercial vehicles from toll booth transponders.

Porsche does have the most amazing tech..that is .focused only on enabling you to go very fast in the safest way possible...that's what they are all about..and i firmly believe they achieve that better than anyone
The rest is an afterthought...so,take it or leave it(though the Burmester is a pretty decent sound system)
4000 miles during my European delivery:Autobahn,and French country roads in my CT has only renewed my respect for the amazing driving aids they provide(like no others)..PASM,PDCC.PTV,PCCB...wowww...yes it is pricy,but the minute I first hit the Autobahn....

I won't disagree with you on that one but the majority of OnStar subscribers are GM customers that get the hardware/service for free and are not in the same socio-economic class as those on this board who wouldn't flinch at paying $20/mo for the accident notification service.

What about when your wife and small children hit a deer or ice slick and crash into a tree on a country road with no one else around?

I hate to break it to you but every modern car's ECU is programmed to record driving telemetry for the purpose of denying warranty repairs if the driver abuses the car. This includes Porsche. And insurance companies pull this data when investigating accidents.

As others have stated, OnStar/TeleAid/BMW Assist do not send this data back to the manufacturers or service centers. And even if they did I personally could care less as the safety benefits outweigh any "privacy" concerns. It's not like they aren't going to call an ambulance if they see you crashed going 90mph vs 50mph...

Not true. Toyota offers a service similar to OnStar/TeleAid/BMW Assist in the Lexus brand called Lexus Enform with Safety Connect (formerly LexusLink). They have offered this for many, many years (second only to GM/OnStar I believe, and many speculate that Toyota's service is outsourced to EDS/Hughes/OnStar).

True, but churn rate data is usually unpublished. I would be very curious to see the data for the luxury level owners.

If that is your concern, by all means get it. There are 7 under-25ers in our family with too many off-road excursions including the mountains of the Northwest, off road trucking, a couple rollovers, etc. OnStar is still not something we seek or miss.

Who doesn't know this? The telemetry records specific events and is on a short loop. Entirely different vs. constant speed logging.


Forgot about that one, thank you.

I think it's important to note that OnStar uses Verizon's cellular service. So if you were to be in a wreck out in the mountains somewhere with no cell service, OnStar won't help you at all.

That is actually the very reason they use Verizon, because VW has the best rural area coverage of any carrier (by far). I have been in the middle of nowhere North Dakota and had five bars.

That said your point is valid that there are obviously some areas that aren't covered and no cellular based system is going to help you there.