Losing your kid is one of the worst things that can happen to you. Having to buy a subscription to find them is somehow worse.
You’d hope that this would never happen, but of course, it did — and it’s all thanks to German auto manufacturer Volkswagen. Danke, VW!
Back in February, Illinois resident Taylor Shepherd was retrieving her 2-year-old from her car when an assailant came up behind her and demanded she hand over the keys to her 2021 Volkswagen Atlas. In the process of doing this, the assailant knocked her onto the ground, ran her over, and caused “serious injuries to her pelvis and extremities.”
Oh yeah, they also stole her baby. Really not her day, huh?
Somehow, Shepherd managed to call the police, who then reached out to Volkswagen to try to use the car’s GPS tracker to help locate the stolen car/baby. The car company’s response? “Nein.”
“Attorneys for the family claim Volkswagen refused to assist authorities in tracking the car until payment of their tracking system was paid and activated,” reads a piece in Fox 59.
See, when Shepherd bought the car, it came with a free trial for the company’s Car-Net services, which allow a car to be located via GPS. At the time of the assault, that trial period had expired — and if Shepherd wanted her baby back, she was going to need to cough up $150.
“The detective had to work out getting a credit card number and then call the representative back to pay the $150, and at that time the representative provided the GPS location of the vehicle,” Sheriff’s office Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli told The Chicago Sun-Times.
Thankfully, the child and car were able to be located by a bystander less than an hour later — no thanks to the newly-purchased GPS services. Now, Shepherd is suing the company, who have already admitted that “there was a serious breach of the process” that led to this incident.
If I were VW, I’d just give them everything they’re asking for. You don’t want to be associated with taking someone somewhere they don’t want to go…again.
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