So, picture this. You get the itch to start some chaos at around 3AM local time. You snatch up your stolen shotgun, load a few slugs in there and roll out with a mind to come home in a shiny new vehicle. As fate would have it, you choose to carjack a 2009 Chevy Tahoe, and while everything seems kosher at first (look, there's even a half-full bottle of Coke Zero over there!), the mighty V8 just seems to be struggling all of a sudden. As the horrifying reality sets in (you know, the one that involves the accelerator not functioning any longer), you're left with no choice but to curse OnStar's
Stolen Vehicle Slowdown feature, which has just nabbed its first-ever criminal. As the Tahoe slowly grinds to a halt, you make a fruitless dash and topple into a swimming pool before being apprehended soaking wet, and even though OnStar took just 16 minutes to return the vehicle to its rightful owner, at least you'll go down in history as the first one to fall victim to the system. Here's to you, unfortunate carjacker -- next time, go for a lawnmower. Humiliating video is after the break.
posted October 21st 2009 11:29AM
Looks like that guy needs to watch more Chevrolet commercials. Then he wouldn't have made this mistake!
Either that, or he should at least know to wait until the 3 month trial of OnStar expires... because how many people really keep paying for it after it expires?
I just wonder if they stopped paying, but police asked onstar to stop the vehicle what would happen...
If anything I think they would be MORE willing to stop your car if you stop paying them.
More people than there used to be now that this commercial is in the hands of dealerships nationwide.
Onstar is still usable even if you don't pay for it. I know because I've pushed the button when I didn't have a subscription and it still connects to them. I think it's more for life or death emergencies though and not for something like locking your keys in your car.
I'm sure that Onstar would cooperate with the police if the system were installed and the police were in pursuit regardless of the subscription status.
now thieves are gonna have to adapt their car jacking skills and learn to disable onstar (aka rip it out, or whatever)
all part of the evolution of crime
"now thieves are gonna have to adapt their car jacking skills and learn to disable onstar (aka rip it out, or whatever)
all part of the evolution of crime"
They would probably do that if they were stealing a parked car and had a few minutes on hand. Carjackers have to work fast and probably wouldn't have time to stop and rip it out.
You get the first year of OnStar for free. XM Radio is what you get the 3 month trial on.
@ale
"Excuse me, victim, would you mind holding my shotgun for me while I disable On-Star in your vehicle? I will then proceed to wave it at you threateningly again, and then try to escape from the authorities. Thank you very much, victim, for being so kind."
lol i live in visalia! wow made it to engadget website!
Welcome to America son.
I grew up in Fresno. Liz Harrison isn't as cute as she was in the 80s and 90s. :)
Ya, but that Santaya Rose is friggin SMOKING!!
I also live in Visalia. Made me smile to see this too.
that you edmund?
Go Visalia! - I used to live off of Lover's Lane - I'm now sitting at a desk on the 31st floor in Times Square (NYC) and that I just saw this, complete with local Madera car dealership commercial, cracks me up.
Ha, I'm also for Visalia. Kinda sad that of anything it was our bad guys that get on slashdot....
Wow... way more Visalians here than I ever would have thought. Cool to see us featured nationally, but I'll still never own an Onstar equipped vehicle.
Ha! Owned by On-Star.
Owned-Star?
in this case, Pwn Star
On-Star, it takes away your horsepowers.
beat me to it
I don't know what is more sad, that he tried to steal a car and failed, or that he fell into a pool. I mean how someone falls into a pool is beyond me, what is he running with his eyes closed.
It was 3AM and he was a little distracted by all those cops I imagine.
Maybe he got confused and thought he was running from a swarm of bees?
He thought jumping into water would help him make a clean getaway.
GTA Fail.
rofl!
lmao
Should have stolen the Banchee
Niko Bellic: Start! you piece of crap! Come on... will you start??!!
he syood have called 911 and gor his car to start again
Wait... What's the shotgun used for?
It was a carjacking, the shotgun was to threaten the driver and passenger.
I think a pool float. . .
sawed off shotgun to carjack the vehicle. he put the gun on the driver and forced him and his passenger out, along with their wallets and valuables.
a hot high speed chase ending with a cool dip in a stranger's pool. what a great morning!
if you have to ask that, you would die in less than 3 seconds in a zombie apocalypse
Awesome.
How long until banks start using this to due their repo'ing for them?
They shouldn't need to. Why repo a moving car? It's much better to repo a car when the "owner" is no where to be seen.
They already use the locator ability of OnStar to find out where the vehicle is.
English Fail "do" not "due" I will use each in a sentence
Due: I sense your lack of intelligence due to the fact you're not using words properly.
Do : When I'm horny, I like to do your mom.
@Derrik
I put that there just for the grammar whiners. CONGRATULATIONS!
Oh, and due to the fact that if you are getting your rig repo'd you obviously have money due. *bow*
Actually you didn't put it there for "grammar whiners" as they wouldn't have anything to whine about considering it wasn't a grammar mistake - you used the wrong word altogether.
@ bike
wow, two targets in one post,
i salute you vocabulary winer hunter person.
I give this a year tops before it starts being used by the police against the owner's wishes. (eg when the rightful driver is driving faster than they like/fleeing them)
How is that any different? If you're fleeing the cops it should be used. Doesn't matter if you own the car or not. You are legally obligated to stop when a policeman is chasing you. There is no grey area here.
Or, as said above, Onstar immobilizes the vehicles of everybody who is behind on their payments! lolz
@Ghen: That's all well and good until there is a legitimate excuse (emergency, trying to get to the hospital), the cop uses it, and someone dies because they chose to take over someone's personal property.
That's not to say that this technology isn't useful...but there's definitely a very slippery slope here, from a personal liberty perspective.