Hey...It Won't Go!

by Lyndon Conrad Bell.

Lock your car, take your keys, don't give car thieves a chance...

That stern admonition is quite familiar to anyone who grew up watching television in the 1970's. Remarkably, even today, twenty percent of all cars stolen are unlocked, with the keys in them, at the time of the theft. Amazing how the more things change, the more they stay the same. Almost.

If you're on the other side of this transaction and jacking rides is the pill that gives you a thrill, you might want to start choosing your marks a bit more carefully. OnStar now has the ability to practically stop a vehicle at the touch of a button––from Detroit––no matter where the car is located in North America.



This new move––Stolen Vehicle Slowdown––is the latest enhancement to OnStar's stolen vehicle services.

OnStar advisors, working with local law enforcement, can send a signal to a stolen vehicle to reduce engine power, slowing the vehicle to a virtual crawl.

The process works as follows:

* Once a vehicle has been reported stolen to law enforcement, the subscriber can call OnStar and request Stolen Vehicle Location Assistance.
* OnStar will use real-time GPS technology to pinpoint the location of the stolen vehicle and provide this information to law enforcement to help them recover the vehicle.
* When a police officer has established a clear line of sight of the stolen vehicle, they can request OnStar to slow it down remotely.
* OnStar then sends a remote signal to the vehicle that interacts with the powertrain system to reduce engine power and slow the vehicle down gradually.

And, as for the one behind the wheel when all that jumps off…well, we’ve all seen enough Cops-like shows to know the rest of this little adventure plays out on foot; and typically ends up with the perpetrator face-down in a pile of dog poo –– don’t make that be you.

Research has shown that 95 percent of OnStar subscribers want the Stolen Vehicle Slowdown service on their cars and trucks. So, the question becomes which cars have it and which ones don’t?

Well, you’ll just have find that out on your own. We will tell you there is no way to tell just by looking at the vehicle.

And yes, this would probably be a good time to just find another occupation.

Don’t say nobody never told ya!