The 2016 Chevrolet Spark With Manual Locks Has One Power Lock For OnStar
We told you — yea, we even showed you — that the most basic 2016 Chevrolet Spark you can buy has manual locks, but also a power lock.
Fascinated? We were. After driving around in a car with manual locks that automatically locked its driver’s door at 8 miles per hour and unlocked its driver’s door when the key was removed from ignition, we were spooked and amazed and perplexed. We asked GM for comment but initially did not hear back.
Now we have.
The Spark LS’s manual locks are in fact manual locks, but only on the three passenger doors. The driver’s door of the base LS model features a power lock actuator that, according to GM Canada spokesperson George Saratlic, “is there to facilitate our OnStar Lock-Out Service.”
Essentially, it’s a safety issue then.
“This service can unlock the driver door remotely with satellite signal,” Saratlic told TTAC. “It is available to customers with active OnStar subscription, and also enables customers to unlock their car remotely from their smart phone with the MyChevrolet/RemoteLink app.”
In other words, the buyer of an ultra-basic Spark — there are no power windows or mirrors, either, and no air conditioning — receives one quasi-power lock in order to facilitate a subscriber safety service. There’s no key fob to unlock the driver’s door from a distance, no proximity access to negate the need of removing the key fob from your pocket, not even a button on the driver’s door to lock the Spark. If you want to lock the driver’s door, just like any of the other Spark’s doors, you must depress the actual lock or insert the key on the outside of the car, and twist.
In the 2016 Chevrolet Spark LS, there is one power lock that’s completely controlled by the Spark and its corporate overlords. It exists to enable two functions — emergency unlock service and remote unlock via your phone — that will only exist if the owner of a $13,875 2016 Chevrolet Spark LS pays an additional $19.99 per month for OnStar.
In Canada, the $11,595 2016 Chevrolet Spark LS requires at least $24.99/month for OnStar.
Timothy Cain is the founder of GoodCarBadCar.net, which obsesses over the free and frequent publication of U.S. and Canadian auto sales figures. Follow on Twitter @goodcarbadcar and on Facebook.
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...In the 2016 Chevrolet Spark LS, there is one power lock that’s completely controlled by the Spark and its corporate overlords. It exists to enable two functions — emergency unlock service and remote unlock via your phone — that will only exist if the owner of a $13,875 2016 Chevrolet Spark LS pays an additional $19.99 per month for OnStar... There is a third function. GM can continue to claim the baseline of OnStar functionality on all GM vehicles sold in the US and Canada. If this wasn't there, a lot of product positioning, messaging, and marketing collateral would have to be changed. Class action law suits would follow, and lawyers would be paid $103,000,346.73 for bringing to light the false advertising, and the group of adversely impacted Spark LS owners would get a $100 credit toward the purchase of a new GM vehicle.
My wife has a 2016 Chevy Spark LS and YES IT DOES HAVE AIR CONDITIONING. Not sure why you would even say that. And all you have to do is buy a key fob off eBay, get the key cut to your VIN or with a picture of your current key, then program the key fob to your car and viola! You now have a working key fob that unlocks and locks your driver door.