Great Start: GM Will Make Door Unlock, Remote Start Standard

New Standard Services from GM

General Motors announced on June 5th, 2013 that GM Will Make Door Unlock, Remote Start standard (read, free!) for five years through the OnStar RemoteLink Mobile App. The services will be available for OnStar-equipped 2014 Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac models “even if the owner declines to pay for other OnStar services.” Thirty-six 2014 model year GM vehicles are compatible with the app.

Bravo. We can only continue to encourage an expansion of the program, making it permanent and moving it down the chain to older vehicles equipped with OnStar. GM’s own statistics bear this out.

Mary Chan, president GM Global Connected Consumer stated “GM owners request remote door unlock assistance through OnStar more than 60,000 times each month, so it makes sense for us to offer RemoteLink Key Fob Services to enable customers to lock, unlock or start their vehicle from anywhere they have a wireless or cellular connection.”

Sixty thousand times a month! The company did not say but given the number of calls going into roadside assistance centers and service departments for owners of vehicles that do not have the luxury of OnStar, we will bluntly assume that a very, very large percentage are due to dead key fobs.

Safety First

These are safety issues for motorists who could very well be stranded in potentially dangerous situations, caught off guard by a dead key fob. The service should be free and permanent for ALL OnStar customers, period. And other manufacturers should at least offer instructions on mobile platforms to help them get in and start their cars – particularly those manufacturers foolish enough to hide the lock cylinder for the sake of aesthetics. Ford is the latest addition to this list.

Interestingly, GM says that “remote start is the most popular remote service by current users of the RemoteLink Mobile App”. If the company’s commercials are any indicator, the feature is fun to play with. And while clearly many GM owners use the service for convenience, our experience suggests a very large percentage are useful or necessary starts due to dead key fobs.

This is a GREAT start. But GM, take a step further to the front and make this free for all OnStar equipped vehicles. Forever. You’ll still have lots of stuff to sell.

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