rikgray

Why can Onstar stop a stolen car, but the Army can't disable 75,000 Taliban captured vehicles in Afghanistan?

Quote from GM:
"Once a vehicle has been reported stolen to law enforcement, OnStar can send a remote signal that blocks the engine from starting."

DNMakinson

iTrader: (3)

Because hackers and wartime reliability and simplicity.

But an A10 Warthog can surely disable them.

deezums

iTrader: (3)

Onstar is useless for antitheft anyway. They can't stop a stolen car. Can't even locate it.

https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/th...cking/2309420/

So, I also want to know why the government didn't mandate it, like vaccines.

technicalninja

One of my customers had a 17 GMC Denali stolen recently from a Golf Course in Ft. Worth.
Video of the parking lot showed the thief walking up to the truck with a lap top.
He got into the vehicle just like he had the key fob, it started instantly and he drove away normally. Nothing else, no computer changes, he did not open the hood.
Gone in 5 seconds, not 60...
My customer left the establishment 3 minutes later and reported the truck stolen within the first 5 minutes.
Onstar was contacted as soon as he got off the phone with the police.
Onstar advised they could not track the vehicle as Onstar had been disabled.

The truck texted the owner for the next four hours advising "Engine ECU has been disconnected, airbag has been removed, transmission control computer not talking with ECU" and other messages until it finally went silent.
The text messages showed the truck being stripped and chopped.
If the vehicle can communicate to send text I believe it should be able to text location as well.
It may be that GM would rather sell another vehicle rather than get yours back.

The police said "most likely" the thieves were sitting in the parking lot and scanning for the signal when owner used their remote to lock the vehicle.

I use Lojack on my nice stuff. Mine does not have the ability to stop the car but it's nearly invisible.
The only issues I have had with it are when one of the remote's battery dies it texts us and says "the vehicle has moved without a remote fob in it".
I've had a LoJack on one vehicle for 12 years, zero maintenance (besides remote batteries) and it still works perfectly.

One of Lojacks early kills was on a Ferrari that was found to be moving at 6 MPH in the San Francisco bay...
When the Coast Guard intercepted the ship they found 80+ exotics, all stolen, heading to China.
That's "theft recovery" in my book.

DNMakinson

iTrader: (3)

^^^^^ TN, Great Story ^^^^^

L337TurboZ

iTrader: (1)

I'm a technician for GM at a Buick/GMC dealership. I don't see how OnStar can't locate his vehicle yet he still get reports on DTC's regarding communication issues. For him to get DTC's he would have to have OnStar services since the Wifi built into the truck is used through the TCIM (telematics communication information module) and your WiFi is purchased through OnStar. Unless you use a wireless hotspot but that could be tracked to whoever was making the hotspot or had inputted the shops wifi if they were stripping it.

I doubt a thief is gonna connect their phone or router to the truck while they are stealing it. Not to mention learned keys. On a 2017 and up vehicle when a key/fob is programmed to the vehicle it is VIN locked to the key. You would have to access SPS through gmglobalconnect.com to begin the key relearn with an MDI2 pass through device. At minimum the learn time is 12 minutes doing it through SPS, 30 minutes if you do it manually
I don't think that story is fully truthful. There are a few communication networks on GM vehicles. The high speed one for ECM, TCM, EBCM and BCM and maybe the FPCM/CCM. The others are either low speed network for BCM and driver door modules infotainment etc. On a 2017 Denali the radio is on it's own network called the MOST network and the radio is the Most master module. OnStar can pull DTCs and look up vehicle location using GPS even if the customer doesn't have an OnStar subscription. On our side of things we don't even have to setup a TCIM for OnStar. We simply replace and program the module to the car for it's VIN. Everything else is done on Onstars side. If LEO request vehicle location with a warrant OnStar is obligated to comply and if possible attempt to communicate with the vehicle for it's location. Now if a battery is disconnected or there is no 12V power to the vehicle it won't work or if the vehicle is in a building blocking satellite signal then obviously that hampers it.