Nearly 300 people die each year in the 30,000 police chases that occur, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

General Motors, using its OnStar navigation system, has started a stolen vehicle slowdown program. If a car with OnStar is stolen, a signal would be sent to the engine that gradually slows the vehicle down.

"No other automaker provides its customers the peace of mind that OnStar Stolen Vehicle Slowdown does," said Chet Huber, OnStar president. "Our subscribers have told us they don’t want their vehicle to be the instrument of harm."

GM will add the capability to more than 1 million 2009 model year vehicles with OnStar.

"Prior to stolen vehicle slowdown, there were only three ways to stop a police chase: the officer elects to terminate the chase, the vehicle being pursued decides to stop or, in the worse case scenario, there is a crash," said David Hiller, national vice president of the Fraternal Order of Police. "We now have an additional and obviously far safer method. We congratulate GM and OnStar for working with law enforcement as they developed this product."

Once an OnStar subscriber has reported a stolen vehicle to law enforcement, he or she can call OnStar and request Stolen Vehicle Assistance. An OnStar adviser will use advanced Global Positioning Satellite technology to pinpoint the exact location of the stolen vehicle, which will be provided only to law enforcement.

Once law enforcement officials have the stolen vehicle in a clear line of sight to know conditions are safe, they can request that the OnStar advisor remotely slow it down. As the car is slowing down, all other vehicle systems will remain fully operational, including power steering and brakes.

Subscribers who prefer not to have the new technology on their vehicle can opt out of the service at any time. The rest of their OnStar services will remain active and unaffected.