One of the very first technologies of its kind to be routinely installed and provided with purchase of a GM vehicle, OnStar is a seamless brew of cellular, Bluetooth, GPS, microphone, speakers and human operators that is now available in almost any and every car. Its feature list includes both safety and convenience elements. For example, if you crash, sensors wirelessly alert a 24-hour call center staffed by 2,000 OnStar operators. They immediately talk to you over the built-in speaker. If you don’t respond, or if you say something like, “My legs are broken in six places,” they automatically send an ambulance. They know exactly where to send it; they can see where you are, and they know what kind of car you’re driving. This can be a very valuable asset when it comes to saving lives.
Even though OnStar only comes with a 6-month free trial period, according to OnStar, 4.5 million G.M. owners so far have signed up to pay for it.
The newest addition to the OnStar family is the FMV, or “for my vehicle,” which is a rearview mirror designed to give OnStar services in any vehicle. It may cost almost $400 to install, and then the usual monthly or annual service fee, but for the type of safety measures it provides as listed above, isn’t it worth it?
And, as always, this OnStar product also includes the famous automatic crash response — that business about OnStar reps calling you when you’re in an accident. That really does happen! The sole difference is that the “embedded” OnStar system (built right into G.M. cars) also knows if your air bag went off, if your car flipped over, how fast you were going and which way, and whether or not the car got hit more than once. FMV, on the other hand, knows about your crash solely from the motion sensor in the mirror.
Even though there is this difference, having an OnStar FMV is still better than not having any at all. And, of course, there is (and always will be) room for improvement.
