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OnStar Member Kristy K. had never been in a crash and wasn’t sure what to do in the aftermath of her first. Fortunately, an OnStar Advisor* knew exactly what to do.
It was a pretty typical November evening in Plattsburgh, New York. Which is to say it was dark, even at 6:30 p.m. “We pride ourselves on being kind of a dark area where you can see the stars and things like that,” OnStar Member Kristy K. says.
Bordering Vermont and about 25 miles from the United States-Canadian border, Plattsburgh is about as upstate as New York gets. Nature abounds. But it does get dark, and it was exactly that when Kristy merged onto the freeway in her 2025 GMC Terrain. Her mother was in the vehicle. Then … BAM!
“I’m trying to figure out what was happening,” Kristy says.
“I'm just driving along and I don't know what happened next,” Kristy says. “I remember OnStar popping on, asking me, ‘Were you in a car accident?’ And I was like, “I believe I was.’”
“I just remember the voice of OnStar guiding me through absolutely every moment,” Kristy says. “The volunteer fire department came immediately, but this voice stayed with me. Once all the emergency vehicles came, she's like, ‘Do you want me to stay on the line?’ And I'm like, ‘A little bit.’”
“I feel safe in this car,” Kristy says. “Not only because of the way it's built, and what I've seen it be able to do, but also because I know pushing that blue OnStar button, there's going to be a voice who's going to have an answer for me while I'm on a road in a situation that I might not know.”
The airbags had deployed and there was dust in the air visible through the light from the center display that had come to life, illuminated by what she’d later realize was an emergency activation.
“Don’t go toward the light,” her mother joked.
Then they heard a voice, and the voice was warm and helpful. It was the voice of an OnStar Advisor
Did she know where she was?
“I have no idea.”
Did she see anything?
“Trees.”
There are trees everywhere around Plattsburgh, but that wasn’t a problem. The Advisor was able to pinpoint their location and get Kristy and her mother the help they needed. First Responders arrived shortly.
After her crash, Kristy says people looked at photos and wondered how she and her mother weren’t hurt. The safety of her GMC Terrain and her appreciation for OnStar led her right back to her dealer. She replaced her 2025 Terrain with a 2026 model. That allowed her to continue using the myGMC mobile app
What happened is they hit a deer.
Both she and her mother checked out fine; the Terrain not so much. She’d had OnStar in earlier vehicles, and Roadside Assistance
“I didn't know what my next steps were,” Kristy says. “I just knew something had happened. My car had stopped. So, when OnStar came on and just asked me questions and I could go ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ and then I saw the emergency vehicles I needed showing up, that was super helpful.”
Which is why she wanted to share her story, to say thanks.
“I think we forget to thank people who do really good by us, and there's a lot of people who just want to complain,” Kristy says. “The Advisor was calm. She asked me the same question four or five times because I just wasn't listening, or I was trying to process it. She stayed calm. She did it.”
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