I have a stange story, and concern, that I am presenting to forum members. This concerns acquaintance who owns a c7, but this also pertains to the c8 which I own. The c7 which had an active onsgtar subscription was extremely well maintained and always garaged. However, a few weeks ago it was stolen while temporarily parked outside at night while there were severe power cutback backs her in Northern, Ca due to storms. Investigagtion shows the thieves had previously placed an Apple air tag on the car and had been tracking it, and when they discovered it being outside they moved in. (Dut to power being out for three days the garage door was not operable thus the car had to be left outside). Onstar was immediately contacted but they were unable to communicate with the car, because the thieves had somehow disabled the power supply to the onboard onstar equipment. However the battery and other electrical was not touched, as the thieves drove the car away. I also have active Onstar. I contacted Onstar and they said they had never heard of such an event happening. I do not think that our c8 Constar systems are all that much different than the c7. My question is are our systems not that secure? How could this be done. It should be noted that my friend's c6 security systems were all operable and well maintained, not a peep was heard from the car. I welcome all comments

 

TL;DR:

Car left outside in California gets stolen and Onstar can't track it because thieves know to pull fuse #27.

 

Its going to be F34 in the C8 according to the Owners Manual and the schematic. In the glove box panel. However, there is a back up battery. Based on what the Service Manual says, that battery will go active if the fuse is pulled or if the car battery is disconnected while the ignition is still on. You must wait for the retained power accessory to time out before disconnection the power to the Telematic module in any way, or the back up battery will be enabled - which would allow tracking. That is the whole point - is to allow tracking in the event of an accident that otherwise disables power to Telematics.

 

Guess they parked it in a steel building then, or did something else we as not-thieves don't know about.

 

Andybump--Thank you for your detailed reply. It appears that the designers planned for such an eventuality. I have owned several Corvettes and until now have considered myself somewhat knowledgeable, but the electronics on these new cars are off the freeken planet. I have been a forum member for many years. What an asset it is to have people like you as members Again, thank you---NoBull

 

Did your friend get their car back? How do you know that the thieves put an Apple Tag within the car? How did the thieves steal the car? With a key fob? Was it a C6 or C7 because you mention both in your post?
Sorry for all of the questions but I am just curious.

 

 

My German Shepard sleeps in my car when I have to leave it outside.

 

You'd have a better chance of curing herpes with a Alka-Seltzer than removing or disabling the OnStar system in the C8. It'll take years if ever for anyone to figure it out & more than likely it will only black transmission or reception as opposed to powered off.

Like another poster mentioned the schematics, it is viciously intertwined with all the other onboard systems. Like it or hate it On-Star is permanent with GM products.

Wormwood

 

If professionals want your car they'll get your car. Now on to the next problem.

 

There are signal jammers available for sale…. I believe this has been a problem for Hellcat owners as well…. (They don’t call it scamstar obviously but they have similar tracking systems) I saw a grainy video of a Hellcat being stolen. The person making the video was in the back seat and in the front passenger seat was a box about the size of small pizza with multiple antenna of various sizes sticking out.

They use signal stealing equipment to grab the code from the keys in the house. Once they have the key signal and are in the car and get it started they switch to the jammer equipment. It seems to work very well because Hellcats disappear all the time and thieves have obviously found a way to prevent being tracked.

 

Hate it… absolutely hate it… gm uses it to steal private owner driver data, sell it to third parties who package and resell it to insurance companies, credit bureaus, all for the express purpose of damaging consumers credit and raising their insurance rates.

And when the day arrives that this incredibly invasive “technology” could actually help the consumer (to locate a stolen car) surprise!!!! It doesn’t work.

Yup…. Definitely Hate it.

 

Read carefully though. If you turn off the ignition, and then wait for the retained power accessory to time out, then you can pull the fuse and/or disconnect the battery without triggering the back up battery. Or, at least the it seems to imply that.

 

Every garage door opener setup I've seen allows the door to be disconnected from the opener and opened and closed manually. Sounds like the owner should have read the instructions.

 

That’s true. Sorry this happened to your friend, and hope he can get the car back, but I wouldn’t count on it.

 

1. Garage doors can be opened without power. Pull the cord. Someone who owns a nice car and doesnt know this is a fool.

2. Keyless entry and ignition are easily defeated. Keep key fob in a farraday box FFS. At least make thieves WORK for it with wheel dolleys or a tow truck.

Good grief.

 

There should be a slide lock on the insdie of the garage door to keep it securely locked.

 

Some people do not have the strength to lift/push the door so as to engage it in the track. it does take some strength and effort.

 

If a typical human, male or female, can't open the garage door they need to have it adjusted or need new springs. A properly balanced garage door isn't hard to lift.

 

But the simple fact is that I can check my car’s location 24/7 without ConStar.

If it’s stolen, I can notify authorities of it’s location in a fraction of the time it takes to access ConStar…if it even works.

For $30, why not?