Last week, OnStar raised some eyebrows when they emailed their customers to say that the company will tracking their car even after they canceled service. They then followed up with an emailed statement to the press to let everyone know they’re not bad guys.

Joanne Finnorn, Vice President, Subscriber Services told Consumerist,

OnStar has and always will give our customers the choice in how we use their data. We’ve also been very open with our customers about changes in services and privacy terms.

Under our new Terms and Conditions, when a customer cancels service, we have informed customers that OnStar will maintain a two-way connection to their vehicle unless they ask us not to do so. In the future, this connection may provide us with the capability to alert vehicle occupants about severe weather conditions such as tornado warnings or mandatory evacuations. Another benefit for keeping this connection “open” could be to provide vehicle owners with any updated warranty data or recall issues.

Of course, if the customer requests us to turn off the two-way connection, we will do as we have always done, and that is honor customers’ requests.

Our guiding practices regarding sharing our subscribers’ personal information have not changed. We are always very specific about with whom we share customers’ personal information, and how they will use it. We have never sold any personally identifiable information to any third party.

Keeping the two-way connection open will also allow OnStar to capture general vehicle information that could be used in future product development.

We apologize for creating any confusion about our Terms and Conditions. We want to make sure we are as clear with our customers as possible, but it’s apparent that we have failed to do this. As always, we are listening to our subscribers’ feedback and we will continue to be open to their suggestions and concerns.

FURTHER READING
OnStar Begins Spying On Customers’ GPS Location For Profit?

PREVIOUSLY
OnStar Now Tracking Your Car Even After You Cancel Service

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