[RahulNagaraj]

Cops from Lake Country, Illinois, weren't able to find the location of a stolen Volkswagen car with a toddler inside, even after reaching out to Car-Net, a VW service, which allows its customers to track their cars.

According to reports, the reason was that the VW owner's Car-Net trial period had ended, and the representative asked for $150 to restart the GPS service to locate the car. The representative didn't budge on the payment, saying it was company policy, even after multiple pleas from the detective explaining the "extremely exigent circumstances", said Sheriff Office Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli.



Reports later suggested that the detective was left with no option but to work out getting the credit card number, call the representative again and make the $150 payment, before reactivating the GPS location of the vehicle.

This whole ordeal took 30 minutes, by which time the toddler was already located, as well as the vehicle, all before the VW representative could provide any information, rendering the whole GPS activation worthless.

Soon after the incident, Volkswagen issued an official statement, calling the incident "a serious breach of the process". The statement went on to state that the company takes the safety of its customers very seriously and that they were addressing the situation with the parties involved.

Covelli stated that the Sheriff's office has worked with other car tracking services during emergencies. He added that the officer is typically asked to attest to the level of urgency and why certain records are needed. He went on to state that it's a major concern when there's information which could potentially help save a life, but one has to jump over major hurdles to get it, especially when time is of the essence.

Source: Chicago SunTimes

[rashid247]

While it may be morally questionable, providing tracking details for free undermines the incentive for customers to opt for a subscription.

[architect_santo]

Glad that the child is safe, now its unfortunate for VW to deal with this issue on the PR front. I assume the concerned representative was a employee of VW, this is what happens when a employee acts, just by rule without applying his mind. However organization's are responsible to impart ethics among its employees, which should be the discretion to handle such situations.

[mpp1]

Capitalism at work
Worst part is had the car and baby not been found in time, the car owner or parent would not have been able to sue VW either
Sad commentary on our society for sure

[Auto_guy_101]

Using my limited legal understanding, I think the cops getting tracking info and the owner subscribing are 2 very different things.
Cops may be charged a small fee for the service and with an authorisation from the owner to track the vehicle the tracking company should provide it.
After all, a subscription other than providing a service also authorizes the company to get your data like GPS.

[SKC-auto]

VW is making Car-Net free for five years after carjacking fiasco.

In response to a carjacking involving a Volkswagen and a two-year-old child, Volkswagen of America today announced that it will provide a free five-year subscription for Car-Net Safe & Secure connected vehicle emergency services for most model year 2020 to 2023 vehicles