Chevrolet OnStar Family Link – Video
With nearly 362,000 kids in the U.S. turning 16 in August — more than in any other month this year — Chevrolet knows parents with driving-age children need a little added peace of mind. Throughout August, Chevrolet is offering customers three months of free OnStar Family Link.
OnStar Family Link allows parents to stay connected to their teens no matter where their young drivers roam by providing access to teens’ vehicle locations. Parents can also set up email or text alerts to know when a vehicle has arrived and departed a destination or traveled outside a specific area.
“The day your children start driving is a dream come true for them, but it can be a nightmare for a concerned parent,” said Luciana Chamberlain, Family Link product marketing manager for Chevrolet. “OnStar Family Link can help minimize a parent’s anxiety by letting them know when their child has arrived at school, left a friend’s house or traveled outside of their comfort zone.”
Any Chevrolet owner in the U.S. with a 2012 model year or newer vehicle and an active OnStar subscription[1] can sign up for three months of free OnStar Family Link by visiting OnStar.com. Once signup is complete, vehicle location services and alerts can be set up at onstar.com/familylink. After the three-month trial is over, parents will have the option to keep OnStar Family Link for $3.99 a month plus tax.
OnStar Family Link is one of several Chevrolet technologies that reduce the concerns moms and dads have when their children get behind the wheel. While OnStar Family Link helps monitor teens’ locations, Chevrolet’s Teen Driver and OnStar Smart Driver services can also help parents manage and mentor driving behaviors.
“Driving on their own was big event in my children’s lives, but that also meant I spent more time thinking about where they were and how they were doing,” said Steve Majoros, director, Chevrolet Marketing. “Chevrolet wants to put parents at ease by offering in-vehicle technology that shares real-time info on where their kids are and how they’re driving, so moms and dads can give feedback that helps their teens become better drivers.”
Available on 10 model-year 2017 Chevrolet vehicles, Teen Driver allows parents to set radio volume limits and speed warnings and limit top speed to 85 mph. It also mutes the radio when the front-seat occupants are not wearing safety belts and automatically enables many available active safety features and prevents anyone from manually turning them off.
In addition, parents can use the Teen Driver in-vehicle report card to know about the distance driven, maximum speed reached, overspeed warnings issued, stability control events, antilock braking events, traction control activations, wide-open throttle events and, if equipped and supported, Forward Collision Alerts, Forward Collision Avoidance Braking events and Tailgating Alerts.
When it comes to helping teens develop better driving skills, parents also can give feedback and spark discussion with OnStar Smart Driver. It provides monthly and trip-by-trip scores based on driving behaviors such as hard braking, speeds over 80 mph and rapid acceleration. The monthly reports also rank where a driver stands compared with others in the state or with individuals who drive the same Chevrolet vehicle.
And after 90 days, parents can choose to share their OnStar Smart Driver driving report with participating insurance companies to potentially qualify for savings[2].
OnStar Smart Driver is available on most 2015 and newer Chevrolet vehicles.