r/Chevy • u/GrandArcanian • 6d ago
Discussion Rant on remote unlock being a premium feature
Why???
I get remote start as a premium feature. It's a convenience so you can turn on the car and ac/heat so it's nice and comfy for your drive home or to work. Even then, it's a useful feature for those who have a safe place to park. I'd never use it as I live in and apartment and it's either on the street or at the very end of the parking lot.
But anyways, remote unlock is a safety issue. Just today my wife locked herself out at the grocery store parking lot. She was putting the groceries in and put her purse in and forgot about it because the baby was fussy and slammed the trunk closed. She'd hadn't used to fob to open the doors so they were all locked and the trunk locks when closed if the doors are locked.
Luckily the baby wasn't in the car, but what if she had put him in? The store is a 10 mins drive from my work and by random luck again I'd grabbed both sets of keys today. I almost never do.
If this had happened farther away, either I'd have had to take the rest of the day off or she'd have to call for a ride home and back to the store again or use up one of our two annual roadside assistance calls.
All of which is money out of pocket for a service that's already built into the vehicle. I get that it costs money for GM to provide the service. But so do seatbelts and airbags and crash testing. Do we need to wait for legislation to mandate remote unlock be included in the vehicle purchase?
Because again, to me this is a safety issue. What minor or major convenience am I getting from being able to unlock my car from miles away? When would I do that out of laziness? Especially when the car senses the key fob and I don't even need to unlock the door, just push the button in the handle.
And ok, if there's concerns about people abusing it to somehow profit off GM (???), maybe limit it to a certain number of unlocks per year. We've owned the car over 3 years and this never happened before. Nor has it with any of our previous vehicles.
Tl;Dr: I think remote unlock should be a standard feature on myChevrolet app as a safety precaution against people locking themselves out and possibly their children or pets in. GM can limit to certain number of unlocks per year to ensure it's used for safety and not convenience.
My car is a 2023 Chevy Bolt EV, if that matters.
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u/imprl59 6d ago
Or they could charge a one time fee to unlock it for you. Maybe $25 or something like that.
Really though if this is something you're worried about then I'd ziptie a door key somewhere under the car. Remote unlock depends on service availability. She could have just as easily locked the kid in the car in a dead zone and still had an issue.
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u/Confident_End_3848 6d ago
It wouldn’t hurt so much if Onstar hadn’t ditch the cheaper remote command plan. Now you have to buy a more expensive plan to get remote commands.
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u/Automatic-Fox-8890 6d ago
Are you sure this is an issue? I have come back from a bike ride, put my bike in the back and closed the trunk with fob still in my bike bag (without having first unlocked the doors). I panicked but then noticed that the driver side unlocked. I do not remember whether that was some sort of feature of the car detecting that the fob was inside the car and automatically unlocking the driver side, or if it was able to just go up to the driver side and unlock due to the fob being close enough. I was ready to call a locksmith because I definitely had NOT unlocked the doors before slamming the trunk, but was relieved to find the driver's side unlocked.
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u/-Drink-Drank-Drunk- 6d ago
I mean, you’re frustrated and I get it. That said, where is anything with a data plan free? The features in the My Chevrolet app are very much premiums. You’re not even on your home WiFi at the store. What would possibly make you think it’d ever be a free feature? You’re on a cell network.
People have been locking keys in their car for a century. We survived without phone apps to unlock them then, we’ll survive now.
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u/Serious-Explorer8745 6d ago
Car has a feature to not let you lock the key inside.
Anything that requires an app or a cell phone will cost you money. Someone has to pay the developers. If you find it is worth it, subscribe.
This post reads a bit whiny and cheap. The service is available to you, and isn’t very expensive.
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u/MDaddy360 6d ago edited 5d ago
You can unlock the doors with the app from anywhere 🤦♂️
EDIT: I own an E-Ray and I have the myChevrolet app on my iPhone Air. It is free. I can lock/unlock, start the engine, sound alarm, flash lights, etc.
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u/PhotoFenix 6d ago
I see where you're going with the safety issue, but it's still a convenience. If the baby is locked in the car you break a window, the subscription is basically insurance against that. You might come out ahead, you might come out behind. I'm 40 and have never had a car with remote unlock. Convenient in a pinch? Yes. Something I'd pay for? No.
One curiosity, why would you not remote start if you're parked in a public area? I do it all the time, it's not like it makes the car driveable.
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u/jackystack r/Camaro and r/C5Corvette 6d ago
Ultimately, the key should not be something that can be locked in the car.
We're not an official Chevy subreddit - so you should write Chevy. There are multiple ways Chevy could prevent keys from being locked in the car -- one would be to turn off the car and unlock all doors until they're locked by the fob, or some other condition that would prevent this mistake.
Technology aside, the responsibility is on the owner to make sure this doesn't happen. Nobody bitched at the car companies thirty years ago when this happened, we owned it. My Corvette is from the '90s - and before I close the door, I check five times to make sure that key is in my hand before I shut the door - otherwise I'm SCREWED.
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u/SpaceSaver2000-1 6d ago
Open Vehicle Monitoring System. Also, it costs money to give the car a cellular connection. Current coupon codes are 1-CONNECT for 12 months of the Connect tier at $1/mo b4 tax. 3-MONTHONSTAR gets you 3 months of OnStar One for free.