Son of OnStar Arrives at Vauxhall

UK carmaker Vauxhall has rescued some of the remnants of its former owner’s OnStar connectivity service and rebranded it VauxhallConnect.

Since the Vauxhall-Opel brand was sold by General Motors to the PSA Group, the consumer connectivity service was doomed to end December 2020 with all new models built after the beginning of January 2019 not being installed with the service. Now fans of connectivity can breathe a sigh of relief that parts of service will now continue, possibly even being rolled out to other brands under the PSA umbrella should demand be sufficient.

However, the automaker has confirmed the existing 24/7 call center assistants currently on call by OnStar customers will be shut down at the end of next year. A Vauxhall spokesman told TU-Automotive: "The current ability to talk to an assistant and have them load data onto your navigation system will stop. This is a completely new system that would have happened irrespective of OnStar which we used when we were a GM company."

VauxhallConnect mirrors many of the previous OnStar services offering at a push of a button emergency calling, navigation and remote control features, such as locking and unlocking doors, sounding the horn or operating the lights, climate control of electric charging, working in tandem with the MyVauxhall app. It means that should the airbags or seatbelt tensioners be deployed in an accident, an emergency call is automatically made from the VauxhallConnect service. If this receives no answer, the service sends details of the accident to the rescue services, including the time and place of the call, as well as the direction of travel. An emergency call can also be made by pressing the red SOS button.

The service can also report a breakdown call, connecting drivers to the Vauxhall mobility service, and passing on key information such as a location with vehicle diagnostics data. Drivers can also access their vehicle status via the MyVauxhall app, including mileage, average fuel consumption, service intervals and other reminders.

VauxhallConnect will be available as an optional extra for on all Vauxhall models, and is included as standard on Vauxhall models equipped with Multimedia Nav and Multimedia Nav Pro infotainment systems, and on the Corsa-e and Grandland X Hybrid4.

— Paul Myles is a seasoned automotive journalist based in London. Follow him on Twitter @Paulmyles_