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More than 16 years ago, GM had the foresight and fortitude to create an industry-defining company, OnStar, focused on developing powerfully simple technology to make a real difference in peoples’ lives.

OnStar is the benchmark for in-vehicle safety, security, communication and convenience services, with more than 16 years of experience and more than six million current subscribers.

• OnStar has applied the lessons from more than 400 million cumulative subscriber interactions to continually evolve and improve its services. OnStar’s key services include: Automatic Crash Response, Stolen Vehicle Assistance, Turn-by-Turn Navigation, OnStar Vehicle Diagnostics and Hands-Free Calling.
• OnStar interacts with a subscriber an average of once every two seconds.

In responding to over 200,000 crash scenes, OnStar has had a fundamental impact on trauma response and crash outcomes.

• OnStar’s 16 years of experience has continued to define the state-of-the-art in crash response technology.
• Crash signature data allows for deep analytical evaluations across a broad and comprehensive range of vehicle crashes.
• OnStar is working with the Dr. Stewart Wang and the University of Michigan Health System to study exactly what happens in vehicle crashes, so that information can be used to better treat victims
  • The revolutionary research, conducted over approximately 18 months, will look at 1,000 incidents and ultimately will allow OnStar to predict not only the severity of a crash, but assist emergency care providers by providing the probability of certain types of injuries sustained by crash victims. 
  • Through support from OnStar, Michigan State Police, Michigan Department of Public Health and Trauma Centers throughout the State of Michigan, Dr. Wang and his team will be able to link OnStar telematics data with police, EMS and hospital records to confirm the effectiveness of OnStar’s Injury Severity Prediction (ISP).
  • The Centers for Disease Control (CDC), which strongly supports Dr. Wang’s work and OnStar’s ISP, predicts that because of this research, mortality rates for severely injured car crash victims will greatly improve when they are sent to a Level 1 Trauma hospital.
  
  

An important factor that separates OnStar from its competitors is the human connection of OnStar advisors, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

• When “life happens on the road”, these trained advisors offer much more than any automated system can offer: immediate, knowledgeable and personalized attention.
• OnStar advisors stay on the phone during an emergency and will give all crash details to emergency responders, including precise vehicle location, which can make the difference in receiving life-saving treatment.
• OnStar Emergency Advisors are now EMD certified, allowing them to offer life saving guidance and instructions while victims wait for first responders to arrive on scene.
• OnStar Emergency Advisors have to go through a comprehensive training process. This process includes, over 15 weeks of internal OnStar training, as well as specialized training by the National Academies of Emergency Dispatch (NAED), which includes Medical Priority Dispatch Systems (MPDS) protocol, CPR, emergency software instruction and OnStar-specific emergency processes. These Advisors also receive continued education on a variety of emergency topics in order to maintain their certification.

OnStar Stolen Vehicle Slowdown and Remote Ignition Block are powerful and highly valued next steps that will assist in the recovery of Stolen Vehicles.

• Remote Ignition Block allows an OnStar Advisor to send a signal that blocks the ignition, so once a stolen vehicle is turned off, it cannot be started again (until its recovered and the Advisor reactivates the ignition).
• Using Stolen Vehicle Slowdown, an Advisor sends a signal to a mobile stolen vehicle that deactivates the accelerator and gradually slows the vehicle to an idle speed, once a police officer indicates conditions are safe.
• Stolen Vehicle Slowdown is an enhancement to OnStar’s Stolen Vehicle Location Assistance, which our subscribers use approximately 400-500 times each month.
• This service can positively impact potentially life-threatening situations. According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistics, about 30,000 police chases occur yearly and approximately 300 deaths occur as a result of these police chases.
• With capabilities such as Stolen Vehicle Slowdown and Remote Ignition Block, subscribers have the added peace of mind knowing that their vehicle can be prevented from being used as an instrument of harm.

OnStar’s Turn-by-Turn System allows GM to achieve true “Connected Navigation”.

• GM and OnStar’s innovative navigation offerings continue to provide practical and convenient solutions that enhance the driving experience.
• OnStar customers simply push the blue OnStar button and request an address or Point of Interest from an Advisor, and the directions will be automatically downloaded to the vehicle.
• OnStar eNav allows customers to send Turn-by-Turn directions directly to their vehicle through MapQuest and Google Maps by selecting “Send to OnStar” on the website. The directions can then be accessed through OnStar’s “Virtual Advisor.”

OnStar’s extensive experience and growing scale have combined to help subscribers through serious weather and other events with its Crisis Assist service.

• OnStar provides routing assistance, hotel reservations, a connection to loved ones and shelter locations to all subscribers (regardless of their subscription level) during crisis events such as hurricanes, wild fires, snow storms, etc.
• The lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina in 2005 prepared OnStar for Hurricanes Gustav and Ike in 2008.
• OnStar saw an increase in call volume of 4.5 times and routing requests 10.5 times over the averages during the evacuation for Hurricane Gustav.

OnStar’s patented Vehicle Diagnostics Platform leads to the safe and efficient operation of current and future vehicles.

• OnStar Vehicle Diagnostics (OVD) runs checks on key operating systems and notifies subscribers monthly with an easy to read email status report so they know when to take action to keep their engine properly tuned which can improve fuel economy by four percent or seven cents per gallon.
• Customers can also request OVD checks on demand by simply pressing their blue OnStar button and asking the Advisor.
• OnStar Vehicle Diagnostics extends GM’s commitment to reducing fuel consumption by encouraging proper tire inflation and following the GM Oil Life System, which can help reduce the frequency of oil changes.

In the Summer of 2011, OnStar will launch OnStar For My Vehicle (FMV), the company’s first aftermarket product.

• OnStar FMV will deliver OnStar’s award-winning services to drivers of non-GM and older GM vehicles on the road.
• It can be installed on most top-selling vehicles manufactured in the past 10 years, including vehicles from Ford, Toyota and Chrysler. 90 million vehicles already on the road are currently compatible
• The product takes the place of a vehicle’s rear view mirror and provides OnStar’s core services like Automatch Crash Response, Turn-by-Turn Navigation and Hands-Free Calling.
• To check if your vehicle can support OnStar FMV use the vehicle compatibility tool, also available at the OnStar Facebook page.