Most 8-10 and all under 5... i quess it would be like bugs on a screen if they did it to all the sunfires.. but all highend would... remember this isnt new technology... gm just put it in there... The most iligally exported vehicle (cuz it was stolen and sent overseas) is the grand cherokee, why... not untill reasontly did it have a gps..
BIG truckin companys and the varous armys have been using gps for a long time...
The gps isnt in the 'black box' its mounted on some in the roof (under the sheet metal) and others in the area down and behind the rear seat hidden in the frame.. and other just tucked between the body rails...
Anyone remember that old drug runner movie (forget what it was called) but they had cocaine or somthing hidden in the rocker pannels? theres lots of room for stuff like that in a vehicle..
In 1988 You could buy a ginnipig (oldsmobile toronado trofeo) with a navigation system... what does a navigation system need to work? a GPS...
GM has owned satellites and companys that do that so why not?

http://www.ucalgary.ca/~lewu/341/sco.htm
I found this website if you guys think im talkin outta my ***

"As far as theft prevention goes, if the security system is activated, the location of the car is continuously broadcast to the control station"
-again not new technology

http://www.ucalgary.ca/~lewu/341/sco_files/map.gif
-They can track each truck.. if they click on a truck they can tell anything about that vehicle.. on the new sytems they can send a signal to the truck to speed up or slow down the truck (not smart Idea if its about to pass someone.. but the technology is there)

a gps is just a transmitter and a 36cent microchip sence gm already has the satelites why not?
also it may have a gps but it mite not have a fixed mast...

Onstar.com
-When your check engine light comes on an adviser has already made your appointment at your closest gm dealer.. also if your oil index light comes on they will advise you that your oil light is on and "would you like to make an appointment?"

[/img]

I'm gonna try some searching, instead of work, but if anyone comes up with any info on what these black boxes do, or how to link it to a laptop, let us know!

Oh no another Rant.

1992 Trofeo I don’t know where you stand with these actions but I have used quotes from your write up to share mine. Nothing personal.

If im a thief and I want to steal a car I will disconnect the GPS. I believe this system can be helpful but ultimately I dislike the feeling that my driving instructor is along for the ride. I don’t think if people were asked out right that they would vote that this is a good option to be mandated for our roads or cars. I figure if GM wants to drive with me i should be subsidized for my time. I need a switch to turn off the whole system. GPS already exists and it can be privately acquired without GM on the other end.



Yes for the total idiot it would be great help but the cost at the dealership and the cost at my friend’* garage is very different and my friends don’t lie to me. Gm has a vested interest in selling me every option along the way and will charge me for the stickers that they use. Car companies have to be creative to make money with the stiffer competition.
I don’t blame them for making money but the whole tracking thing has me feeling more like im part of the red army with a need for a good boy sticker.


So next with the car report will be a GPS report that is favored "unless you have something to hide" then it will be the "meter" to test a used car by. lol then we will be forced to buy GPS spoofers that send out readings to the GPS to make it think we are driving nicely. LOL I already have a guy who can make a spoofer .

Im going to rebuild my old 95 for years to come and try and keep the "Wild" in the west.

Ty

Oh, come on. That is complete fiction. There is no OnStar ad or any other ad with a dialogue like that.

Because the _car_ does not and cannot transmit to the _satellite_; it'* strictly one-way. The GPS receivers determine their position from satellite transmissions and their relative signal strengths, but they can't talk back _to_ the satellites.

If some company is monitoring the position of their vehicles, they're doing it by having the GPS receivers turn around and transmit their locations to the company via different means: radio, cellphone, wireless Internet, whatever. But the point here is that it'* not the GPS that you'd want to disconnect, it'* the outbound transmission between the GPS and whatever it'* talking to... and that is _not_ to a satellite.

For example, consider your typical home TV satellite dish setup: You have a big, precisely-aimed dish to listen to the satellite, but it doesn't send anything back to DirecTV or Dish Network that way; it uses your telephone line to report in every now and then.

I understand we may all be sick to death of this subject by now, but I remembered this thread when I came across this updated article on MSNBC.COM just now:

http://www.msnbc.com/news/963677.asp

Some interesting details (with cited sources) in there on the subject.

Good find on this article.

I don't see a 2000 Bonneville listed...oversight?

Actually there are two-way satellite links...And directtv does do this. Granted the dish is like 800.00 and the dish must still be positioned but it does exist. Also Satellite phones work on a two way link...On-Star may use this technology for transmission?

-- Rogue

Yes, there are two-way satellite links in various devices, but transmitting from a fixed location is not the same thing as trying to hit a satellite from a moving vehicle.

I think most likely the car transmits a GPS location via the On-Star cellphone connection to a land-based receiver. Again, I really don't think there is any transmission going on _from_ the car _to_ the satellite.

It could get to the satellite by making a third leg of connection from the car to a land-based transmitter via a cellphone network, and then from there to the satellite, but there'* really no point in that, since the satellite is simply a conduit to get a signal from ground control outbound to the cars.