zenith:
Maybe I’m on to something. GM, you’re welcome to crib my idea for Governor on Demand. It should prove popular with parents.

The only problem with Governor on Demand (GoD) is when law enforcement agencies start playing GoD and installing technology that keeps cars from going faster than the posted speed limit.

Of course, that would cut out a major source of revenue so it probably would never happen. They'll just continually monitor the car's telemetrics to see how fast it's going and email the owner a ticket the minute it exceeds the speed limit.

Back in those days, I’d have loved to tell the OnStar operator, “Kid’s using the car tonight. Limit the top speed at 65 and make sure it takes him no less than 14 seconds to get there.”

Maybe I’m on to something. GM, you’re welcome to crib my idea for Governor on Demand. It should prove popular with parents.

OK, well I confess it CAN happen if you try. Like the time I casually tossed my keys into the trunk while grabbing a box … and then shut the trunk! But that’s a once in a decade event and you just call for a taxi: the drivers are trained to jimmy doors.

Equiping a car with an on-board cell phone is not a costly endeavor. Lexus does it too.

Lexus Link actually IS OnStar, in case you didn’t know. Maybe GM does make money on that deal. Anyway those telematics units cost around $400, I’ve heard.

Have a real breakdown actually requiring roadside assistance. Press OnStar button. Wait on hold several minutes before “OnStar” actually connects. Explain you need a tow. Wait several more minutes to be ‘trasnferred’ to representative of roadside assistance company. Listen to roadside rep ask YOU which municipality you are in and which intersection you are nearest as the OnStar people did not give her precise directions. Explain you want to be towed to X dealership and be prepared to explain where that is. When you ask, be told that she cannot connect you to the dealership’s service department, as they do not provide that service. Wait for over half an hour in a freezing car and have the tow truck driver finally find you as he was not given more precise directions…. It sure don’t happen like the commercials…

1) Requesting a remote door unlock and horn honk by phone on a car which has been left parked and un-touched for over 48 hours (can’t be done since the unit goes into hibernation to preserve battery life).

2) Doing a ‘where am I’ request in the vehicle, after you’ve disconnected the GPS antenna connection to the unit, or even put aluminum foil over the oval, horizonal part of the exterior antenna (which receives the GPS signal) – The ‘knowledgeable’ Onstar advisor will insist you are stationary at the last location before you ‘blinded’ the GPS reception capability of the unit – while you are hundreds of miles away from the location.

Once my ‘freebie’ subscription was up, and I received a CDN$600+ ‘invoice’ for an additional year of ’service’, the choice was easy: a 5-minute “Onstar-ectomy” in my driveway yieded a shiny aluminum box as a cool conversation piece…

No Onstar unit… no Onstar capabilites… no Onstar interference ;)

P.S. TomTom navigation units are around the CDN$200 range these days…

When are they going to limit your speed? To do so without being asked would lead to so many lawsuits that they wouldn’t even consider it.

What price? Well at the price of losing money, as OnStar is most likely unprofitable for them. Also at the price of making their cars a few hundred bucks more expensive than they would otherwise be — which I suppose is why GM has reneged on their long-touted promise to put OnStar in “every GM vehicle” by 2007. (Go out to a lot, easy to find Aveos and even brand new 2008 Cobalts without OnStar).

Not to bash them too much. I just think it’s kind of silly to expect me to $20 a month as insurance against locking myself out of my car (which seems to be what they’re promoting lately) — which never happens anyway since the Japanese cars I buy cannot be locked upon exiting, without the key.

You make a good, and nightmarish, point.

What happens when all this technology starts some all out electronic warfare? I will tell you – the technology will become useless. Airplanes will become much more expensive to operate, car gps units will become more of a bother than an aid, and just forget about having a useful cell phone.

Billions will be wasted.

First thing we need to do is tell the government to stop even thinking about a GPS based tax system. The tax will be on society in general, not those driving around a lot.

Still, the thought of the Voice of Doom coming out of nowhere ordering the perp to pull over or be wasted has an……

appealling quality to it…..

On the contrary, it is very cheap to implement. Modern vehicles have full computer control of the engine, transmission, brakes, door locks, etc. With a cell phone connection and a

It has already been invented. It is called the flatbed truck. They will have disconnected the battery and reduced your whip to parts, before you know its gone.

I’d buy that… for a dollar! :-0