DETROIT – OnStar, General Motors’ in-vehicle navigation, emergency communication and entertainment service, has told consumers it will no longer collect data on them after they cancel the service after a U.S. senator called on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the legality of the practice.
Earlier this month, OnStar informed customers by e-mail that beginning Dec. 1 the service would continue collecting data after a consumer canceled the service, unless the consumer asked OnStar to stop collecting it.
But Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., wrote FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz, asking the agency to investigate whether OnStar?s policy represented an unfair and deceptive trade practice. There?s no word yet on whether FTC chairman Jon Leibowitz will take up Senator Schumer?s call for an investigation. The United States Government owns more than one quarter of OnStar.
OnStar has more than six million customers, and the OnStar system is factory-installed in myriad vehicles from General Motors and other manufacturers through a licensing arrangement: licensees include Volkswagen, Audi, Acura, Subaru, and Isuzu. The first systems were available in selected 1997 model year vehicles?meaining OnStar systems have been on the market for nearly 15 years. Only systems from about 2003 onward can still be used with the current OnStar service?OnStar setups from 2003 through 2005 can only be used by way of a separately-installed analog adapter for their now-antiquated cellular gear.
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