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Grateful OnStar is in the vehicle
3 MIN READ Growing up in tornado country, Jason C. remembers his father leading him outside when severe weather approached. Jason would stand on the picnic table, and his dad would point to the sky and show him what to watch for before they’d race to the basement and listen to the radio for updates. On May 19, it was OnStar he was happy to have with him when he ran into a nasty line of storms. He lives in Kansas City and has a vacation home near Lake of the Ozarks. He had spent the weekend there working on assorted projects, which is why he drove his Escalade. “It’s my people-moving and stuff-moving vehicle,” he says. That decision would pay off on his way home. As he headed back home to Kansas City, the weather turned. So much so that once when he checked his rearview mirror, he saw a storm chasing vehicle from a local news station. He figured if he went in the opposite direction of that vehicle, he’d be fine. Instead, he drove straight into the teeth of a storm the National Weather Service would later credit with sparking 10 tornados across the region. He found a spot away from trees that was near a ditch and wasn’t under a power line. And it was then that OnStar alerted him that a tornado watch had turned into a warning. “It was clear that there was an emergency going on via the vehicle,” Jason says. A hands-free driving fan When it came time to buy his Cadillac Escalade, Jason spent plenty of time doing online research. There was one feature in particular that had his attention: available Super Cruise® hands-free driver assistance tech. He thought about the roads he drives most often then checked to make sure they were Super Cruise-compatible. They were. “I use Super Cruise almost every time I drive,” Jason says. “With OnStar, I can check the diagnostics of the car. I can see, how many miles I have until empty. And I can also just make sure that the car is okay and in the place that I parked it. That's awesome." Jason C | OnStar Member When the storm finally passed, a tornado had missed him by maybe 1,500 feet. “It was a very emotional moment,” Jason says. “A tree fell within probably 30 feet of the car and power lines within 20 feet of the car.” Looking around, he was relieved to see the other cars that had pulled over around him were safe. There was plenty of damage, but people immediately went to work helping each other. He was able to get back on the road and get home, but he knew assistance was a button-push away if he needed it. More than two decades ago, he bought a Chevrolet Suburban with OnStar. Back then, he’d turn to Advisors for directions and restaurant recommendations. “It was the button,” he said. He liked all that was available when he’d push the blue OnStar button and connect to an Advisor. These days, he enjoys activating Super Cruise hands-free driver assistance technology whenever he’s on a compatible road, and he appreciates that added sense of security that comes from OnStar safety features and the knowledge that those Advisors are still there if he needs them. “I’m grateful it’s in the vehicle because it’s another layer of protection,” he says. “Super Cruise has been an absolute lifesaver, especially on those longer trips where I want that assist in terms of driving the vehicle,” Jason says.Farm-fresh tech
3 MIN READ Milas R. lives in San Diego, but it’s where he works that steered him to buy his GMC Yukon with hands-free driver assistance technology from OnStar. He’s a fourth-generation melon farmer, and the family business isn’t a small operation. Their melons can be found in all 50 states, Canada and Asia. As managing director, he regularly makes the drive to Arizona and elsewhere in California where hot days, cool nights and a long growing season make for optimal farming conditions. “Most farms are about 150 miles away,” Milas says. “I get out to the ranch, walk the fields, check the fields that are coming up in production.” Doing that puts around 50,000 miles a year on his vehicle. “I pretty much live in my car,” he says. “When you’re traveling as much as I do and you’re doing as much freeway driving as I do, having any type of assistance really makes the drive more comfortable.” That was the help he was looking for last year when he began shopping for a new vehicle. Milas did a lot of research, watching videos and reading reviews of assorted driver-assistance features. He kept coming back to Super Cruise ® . "Super Cruise has changed my day to day drastically. With Super Cruise, I feel like I can work a little bit more, or I have the energy to be with my family. I have the energy to go get a dinner with my wife." - Milas R. | OnStar Member “When I first looked into it and I saw the videos, I thought to myself, there’s no way that it’s this easy to activate it and get going,” Milas says. He put it to the test and discovered activating and using Super Cruise was indeed pretty easy, and it worked great. “It’s keeping good speed,” he says. “It’s keeping a safe distance from the car in front of you.” Because the Super Cruise network currently stretches to 585,000 miles of compatible roads in North America, his routes to the farms are mostly covered. His drives changed. “Before I had Super Cruise, I would get home and I’d be exhausted, fighting traffic, doing all that freeway driving,” Milas says. “I’d come home, and I’d just feel like I needed to rest.” Now, he feels better when he arrives at the fields. When he gets home, he has the energy to maybe get a little more work done or go out to dinner with his wife and spend more time with his family. “Super Cruise,” he says, “has been a game changer.”Member Stories | Excitement in tow
2 MIN READ There’s plenty of room to roam in Texas. That doesn’t mean the open road is always inviting. OnStar Member Eric F. was faced with what he expected to be a daunting day behind the wheel — hundreds of miles across the state towing a trailer for his son’s Scout troop. Instead, he found the perfect time to take full advantage Super Cruise ® hands-free driver assistance technology in his 2023 Cadillac Escalade — which includes Super Cruise Trailering. There’s an exhaustion that comes with any long drive, but it’s multiplied when you’re towing. You’re constantly thinking about the trailer, the added weight and the extra length. There’s a lot more to pay attention to during each and every mile of a trip. “A 500-mile trip, you get tense by the end of it because you’ve got a lot more to consider,” he says. “Super Cruise really does take a lot of the stress out of it, and you don’t feel as mentally exhausted.” "A five-hour drive of any type is gonna be long, but when you add a trailer and kids to the mix, it gets to be daunting. Super Cruise is fantastic." - Eric F. OnStar Member That’s only the start of how OnStar helps Eric and his family. On another trip, ferrying kids to New Mexico for camping, he put to use the in-vehicle Wi-Fi ® Hotspot* to use, kept up with the news through The Wall Street Journal app,* used navigation* with ease, and turned to Google built-in* for hands-free help finding restaurants and gas stations along the way. If he were offering advice to other Members (or to people considering becoming Members), Eric says he’d recommend first getting comfortable with Super Cruise. Once any initial hesitation turns to trust, the voice commands become second nature — all while staying alert and keeping your eyes on the road. And he sees a lot of the road these days. “My oldest is in college, and it’s seven hours of drive time alone,” Eric says. “We’ve already made the trip a few times. It’s almost fully covered by Super Cruise.”
