OnStar® Steering Wheel Controls

WARNING: This page does not describe the selected car, but rather 8 other vehicles, including the 2008 GMC Yukon XL, 2008 GMC Yukon, 2008 Chevrolet Tahoe, 2008 Chevrolet Suburban, and 2008 Chevrolet Avalanche. However, it is still accessible from the selected car via links, so may be relevant.

Some vehicles may have a button on the steering wheel that when pushed, can engage the OnStar® system. The button may be a symbol of a face with sound waves, or may say MUTE, or be a symbol of a radio speaker with a slash through it.

By engaging the OnStar® system with this feature, the user can interact with the system by use of voice commands. A complete list of these commands is supplied in the information provided to the customer. If the information is not available to reference, at any command prompt the user can say "HELP" and the CIM will return an audible list of available commands.

The steering wheel controls consist of multiple momentary contact switches and a resistor network. The switches and resistor network are arranged so that each switch has a different resistance value. When a switch is pressed, a voltage drop occurs in the resistor network. This produces a specific voltage value unique to the switch selected, to be interpreted by the radio or BCM.