In a statement Tuesday, OnStar said that it had decided to abandon the move in response to consumer privacy concerns.

"We realize that our proposed amendments did not satisfy our subscribers," OnStar President Linda Marshall said in a statement. "This is why we are leaving the decision in our customers' hands. We listened, we responded and we hope to maintain the trust of our more than 6 million customers."

In emailed comments, Vijay Iyer, vice president of public affairs at OnStar, added that the company was told by customers that they wanted the option of opting in to the service rather than having to actively opt out.

OnStar's proposed change to its privacy policy, announced just last Monday, had come under withering criticism from some lawmakers. Sen. Charles Schumer, (D-N.Y.), on Sunday had called the move a "brazen, almost unheard-of" privacy invasion, and called on the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to look into it.

Last Wednesday, Sens. Al Franken, (D-Minn.), and Chris Coons, (D-Del.), wrote to Marshall, calling OnStar's proposed change a violation of the "basic principles of privacy and fairness for OnStar's approximately six million customers."