[JKSully]

Originally Posted by minn19

I’m sure they all had VINs, what I’m not sure is if OnStar knew which VINs were stolen to be able to shut them down. I’m not sure how that works, I’m assuming someone has to tell them which ones, considering the obvious lack of security/possible inside job, I’m also assuming nobody had a list of the specific VIN numbers to give to OnStar to shut them down.

I’m guessing they did have some sort of an end game, it didn’t go to plan and was interrupted by the cops, so not all were in on it if it was an inside job.

You'd think that they would have been able to tell which ones were not yet registered to an owner and could be seen moving on GPS, though.

[minn19]

Originally Posted by XXX ZL1

Seems to be about the only way to get one right now! ����

Originally Posted by JKSully

You'd think that they would have been able to tell which ones were not yet registered to an owner and could be seen moving on GPS, though.

That’s what I/we don’t know is how they track them or can “search” for specific cars. How many cars are on OnStar, millions? How do they find under ten cars in the database to shutdown out of that many in their system? I’m legit interested to know if they have that capability and if so how it’s done just out of curiosity sake.

Edit: I will say I was pretty pissed when they kept badgering me to sign up for their overpriced/fairly useless services. To the point after I said no to the telemarketers/emails multiple times………..that when I started my car to go run errands a commercial over my speakers came on and there was no way to shut it off until it was over. I called and gave them a pretty angry earful over that one.

[JKSully]

Originally Posted by minn19

That’s what I/we don’t know is how they track them or can “search” for specific cars. How many cars are on OnStar, millions? How do they find under ten cars in the database to shutdown out of that many in their system? I’m legit interested to know if they have that capability and if so how it’s done just out of curiosity sake.

True...it's probably something they could do with the existing hardware and car-side software, but they never expected to need to do it so they didn't build the software tools on the monitoring side. They probably have all the necessary variables in the database, but no way to select them all together and do something with the data.

[arpad_m]

Originally Posted by minn19

That’s what I/we don’t know is how they track them or can “search” for specific cars. How many cars are on OnStar, millions? How do they find under ten cars in the database to shutdown out of that many in their system? I’m legit interested to know if they have that capability and if so how it’s done just out of curiosity sake.

A couple million entries in a database is nothing these days.

Companies operating at large scale process tens of billions of transactions per day, heck, I recently built a subsystem that does about 10-14 billion messages/day, the backend store has ~400 billion entries (with a "b") and finding one takes less than a second if you use a proper search key. And this is nothing fancy, trust me.

If they have a VIN list, calling up the cars is trivial, and then I'm sure they can address them easily to send commands. As to how they would have a VIN list? Hopefully they know which VIN is at which location at all times, which should be the case as long as OnStar is physically active (battery in the car), but gm probably has a backup method, too (some physical storage location to VIN mapping in their local data store).

[JSH]

The need for better plant security comes to mind here.

[TP2SS]

If you've ever seen the episode of "How It's Made" about Camaros, you'd have seen that the last things they go through after rolling off the line (under their own power) are the alignment (on dyno-type unit with someone in a pit below the car making the adjustments as all four wheels turn and lasers providing the readings), then a high pressure water bath to check for leaks. They are fully functional with all fluids when they do these checks and the VINs would have to be installed as it's not accessible once the windshield is in, not to mention the engine, trans, and other body stampings of the VIN that can't be done last minute. Many many years ago I used to fly on-demand freight, and I've personally flown a 4 pound box of VIN plates from Detroit to Wilmington DE because a Chrysler plant was shut down because they didn't have the VIN plates to install on the line. That little mess-up probably cost Chrysler a couple thousand dollars just for the flight!

The local (Detroit) news did a story on this the day after it happened. It ran for 3-4 minutes at the top of the 6PM broadcast...more advertising for the Camaro than GM has ever done! They said the cars have the keys in them on that lot, so no need to "go find them" in the plant. They said the thieves bring cash to immediately gas up the cars after they get out. There was a GM rep from the plant on who said they stopped filling the cars up with gas to help mitigate theft.

[minn19]

Originally Posted by arpad_m

A couple million entries in a database is nothing these days.

Companies operating at large scale process tens of billions of transactions per day, heck, I recently built a subsystem that does about 10-14 billion messages/day, the backend store has ~400 billion entries (with a "b") and finding one takes less than a second if you use a proper search key. And this is nothing fancy, trust me.

If they have a VIN list, calling up the cars is trivial, and then I'm sure they can address them easily to send commands. As to how they would have a VIN list? Hopefully they know which VIN is at which location at all times, which should be the case as long as OnStar is physically active (battery in the car), but gm probably has a backup method, too (some physical storage location to VIN mapping in their local data store).

I don’t necessarily disagree, but from the limited info we have, it doesn’t look to be the case that they have that capability to access the data quick enough.

Originally Posted by JSH

The need for better plant security comes to mind here.

Very much agreed, seems unbelievable that it is that poor.

[Efi69Cam]

Originally Posted by TP2SS

If you've ever seen the episode of "How It's Made" about Camaros, you'd have seen that the last things they go through after rolling off the line (under their own power) are the alignment (on dyno-type unit with someone in a pit below the car making the adjustments as all four wheels turn and lasers providing the readings), then a high pressure water bath to check for leaks. They are fully functional with all fluids when they do these checks and the VINs would have to be installed as it's not accessible once the windshield is in, not to mention the engine, trans, and other body stampings of the VIN that can't be done last minute. Many many years ago I used to fly on-demand freight, and I've personally flown a 4 pound box of VIN plates from Detroit to Wilmington DE because a Chrysler plant was shut down because they didn't have the VIN plates to install on the line. That little mess-up probably cost Chrysler a couple thousand dollars just for the flight!

The local (Detroit) news did a story on this the day after it happened. It ran for 3-4 minutes at the top of the 6PM broadcast...more advertising for the Camaro than GM has ever done! They said the cars have the keys in them on that lot, so no need to "go find them" in the plant. They said the thieves bring cash to immediately gas up the cars after they get out. There was a GM rep from the plant on who said they stopped filling the cars up with gas to help mitigate theft.

Did the news story call them high powered assault vehicles?

[JKSully]

Was just looking at one of the articles in the original link again, and saw one of them had an update on 5/3 that the ones they had in custody had all been released already...WTH??!?! Criminal conspiracy, grand theft auto, high speed chase endangering lives, and these assholes are allowed out of jail???

"All the suspects in the Camaro robberies from the General Motors Grand River Assembly Plant lot have been released from jail, a spokesperson for the Michigan State Police said.
The suspects have been released pending further investigation from the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office, MSP said.
On Monday, MSP told 6 News they had nine people in custody after a police chase early in the morning.
Eight of the nine suspects are from the Detroit area, and one is from Saginaw, police say. The suspects are between the ages of 20-24.
MSP did not share any other information as to why the subjects were released from jail."