Are OnStar subscribers at risk for robocalls?

The first telephone call was placed in 1876 – and we imagine people have been getting ticked off about phone nuisances ever since. While telemarketers and robocalls have replaced wrong numbers and people eavesdropping on the party line, now we have a new menace: "violators of the sanctity of the cockpit."

At least that's how an OnStar spokesman described an unwanted phone call a journalist received in an OnStar-equipped vehicle. John Voelcker writes about receiving a robocall while test-driving a Chevrolet Sonic, posing the question for his Car Connection readers, "Is this a common problem?"

Apparently not, at least according to what the OnStar spokesman says, describing the number of complaints the company receives as only "handfuls."

Perhaps the bigger question is whether such undesirable calls pose any real threat? As is often the case when dealing with telemarketers, the answer is not really, save for the nuisance factor. OnStar merely suggests owners of OnStar-equipped cars add their OnStar phone number to the National Do Not Call Registry and says it will credit any phone minutes wasted by robocallers.