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Signature Technologies 105
9-3
Here are the facts:
-For the period from October, 1996
through May, 2000, a driver was on
the phone at the time of a crash
severe enough to deploy the vehicle’s
air bags during only two of the 8.1
million embedded cell phone calls
placed to an OnStar Call Center
-In six other cases, it was determined
that the driver was on the phone within
10 minutes before a crash that
deployed the air bags.
- In all eight incidents, there is no
evidence that these calls actively
contributed to the crashes.
“We already knew from our research
and thousands of customers’
testimonials that OnStar enhances
vehicle safety and security,” said Chet
Huber, president of OnStar, in
announcing the findings. “This study
confirms that our customers can safely
use the embedded cell phone
technology of OnStar. From the
beginning, OnStar’sb unique three-
button system was designed with
safety as a priority.”
This is another example of how OnStar helps
take Saab Real Life Safety to another level.
Cellular Overview
When equipped with OnStar, you have to think
of the Saab 9-3 or 9-5 as a very big cellular
phone that your customers can drive. The main
components of OnStar are the Vehicle
Communications Unit (VCU), a cellular antenna
and an antenna for the Global Positioning
System (GPS) antenna. These work through
the Vehicle Interface Unit (VIU). The cellular
and GPS antennas are housed in the “sharkfin”
antenna found on the roof of the 9-5 and 9-3 SE
hardtop. For the Viggen and the convertible, the
GPS antenna can be found attached to the
inside of the windshield. The cellular antenna is
in the roof antenna for the Viggen hardtop and
the short rubber antenna on the right rear fender
on convertibles.
When OnStar is activated, the system generates
a phone number with a 500 area code. If the
customer wants OnStar’s Personal Calling
service, then a new phone number is generated
with an area code based upon where the
customer lives. On occasion the process may
take what seems to be a very long time to
generate a new number. At this point OnStar is
competing for telephone numbers in the
customer’s area along with every other phone
company, cellular service or pager
company.Once a new number is generated,
your customer’s number is then downloaded into
every cellular tower in the country so that when
a call is made the system will recognize the
caller as having authorization to make the call.
You may have noticed at times when you travel
out of your home market with your hand held
cellular phone the display may say, “No
Service.” This is because you are either too far
from a tower or your cellular provider doesn’t
have a reciprocal agreement with the owner of
the nearest tower and that tower doesn’t
recognize your phone.
Verizon Wireless is OnStar’s cellular provider.
Verizon has the largest coverage of any national
provider in the U.S. market. In those areas
where Verizon doesn’t have direct coverage,
they have signed agreements with local
companies.
The FCC mandated that the cellular industry
build into the system an “A” and a “B” side to the
signal being carried. You or your customer may
experience a message when trying to call
OnStar or make a Personal Calling call that says
something like “not authorized to make a call” or
“press your authorization number into the
keypad.” Don’t end the call. Because, if a call is
not successful in going through, the system will
flip over from the A side to the B side (or vise
versa) and will try completing the call again.
This is more likely to happen if your customer is
traveling outside their home cellular market.
Testing the OnStar System at PDI
Be sure the technician tests the OnStar system
during the test drive when completing initial PDI.
All the technician needs to do is push the blue
OnStar button twice to connect to OnStar. The
technician should tell the advisor he is testing
the system and ask if they received a GPS
signal. If a cellular call is not established or
there is no GPS signal, the technician should
write a Repair Order (RO) to fix the problem.
This will reduce the likelihood of experiencing a
problem at delivery with the customer.