On-star type system

cellphone not good enough?

 

Program an emergency number (911) and you would get similiar results. The only thing missing would be the auto activation if air bag was deployed and the sending of location info. Future Cellphones will include location info to emergency personnel, however.

 

The idea behind onstar is that in an accident you may be incapacitated to point where you can't use your cell phone, or you are out of cell phone range.

 

future??

nahhh... last week, verizon released the motorola v325 with a feature called VZ Navigator. it downloads maps and provides turn by turn instructions along with POI's straight to your cellphone. its basically a pocket GPS unit. turn by turn instructions are given in real time

 

I have a surprise for you. The OnStar system IS a cell phone service. You can be out of range with OnStar too. My other car (Saab) has it so I speak not with forked tongue. hehe

 

I stand corrected; I thought it was a satellite based system. I still stand behind the benefit of the system in terms of accident reporting during serious accidents. We had a 2003 Saab 9-5 that was involved in a serious accident; the Onstar advisor came on immediately to offer assistance. Fortunately, the Saab 9-5 is probably one of the safest GM models with Onstar; we weren't injured. However, the majority of the cars Onstar is installed in (Chevy, Caddy, Buick), don't have quite the stellar safety records that Saab models do (9-7X excluded). For whatever reason I HAD to have one of those cars, I'd like to have Onstar. I highly doubt Toyota would install such a system in a widespread fashion; the only model I know of that has anything similar is the LS 430. I don't know about other Lexus/Toyota models.

 

Actually, you're partially correct. The GPS system is satellite based. It's just the earth bound functionality which is Cell Phone based. The system merely transmits location information from the GPS over the Cell Phone to OnStar. That is how they locate you.

I too agree with you flyingprius, I would use an OnStar type system if it were available on the Prius.

Cheers

 

AT $16.00/mo I don't need it. Yeah, its "free" the first year but you have to give them a credit card to establish the account and they are counting on you forgetting about that pesky little charge that will start hitting you next year. Either that or they expect you to think that ONStar is keeping you "safe" from the breaking down bandits. h34r:

 

Another quick thought: although it costs 16 dollars per month after the first year, I wonder if those costs are offset by insurance discounts. The Onstar system allows stolen vehicles to be tracked, which often leads to a more expeditious recovery of the vehicle. Another advantage is the system can unlock the vehicle if you accidentally lock the keys in the car; the 16 dollars per month may offset a hefty locksmith fee...not to mention convenience.

 

no thanks... i'd rather not have that kind of thing forced on me...

 

our old '02 cadillac DHS had the Onstar.. nothing works when you are out of range.. you can't talk to onstar.. you can't use the cell.. so if you can't reach onstar.. i would say they are probably not tracking you. if they are.. they can't call you.. and you can't reach them.

 

The Prius has exactly this feature, and traffic congestion updates for the NAV. But ya gotta live in Japan...

 

Real-time traffic on NAVI system? Try Acura RL. Available on more than ten matropolitan areas. There is a monthly fee to it (based on XM).

 

First mention of an Acura in a thread on On-Star type service for Prius goes to Ceric.

Yadda Yadda, we're not talking about Hondas.

 

Hey, Bill:

Sorry for going off topic a bit. I almost bought the RL a while back. Really liked the Real-time traffic feature. Your mentioning of Real-time traffic sort of triggered the memory.

 

I wrote off OnStar after I learned that (thanks to Bush now without a warrant) the police and others can listen in to your in-car conversations with the system supposedly "off."