diff --git a/omaha_request_params.cc b/omaha_request_params.cc
index f4f8fb2..0f5af5b 100644
--- a/omaha_request_params.cc
+++ b/omaha_request_params.cc
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright (c) 2010 The Chromium OS Authors. All rights reserved.
+// Copyright (c) 2011 The Chromium OS Authors. All rights reserved.
 // Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style license that can be
 // found in the LICENSE file.
 
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@
 #include <vector>
 
 #include <base/file_util.h>
-#include <base/string_util.h>
 
 #include "update_engine/simple_key_value_store.h"
 #include "update_engine/utils.h"
@@ -35,8 +34,6 @@
 const char* const OmahaRequestParams::kUpdateUrl(
     "https://tools.google.com/service/update2");
 
-static const char kHWIDPath[] = "/sys/devices/platform/chromeos_acpi/HWID";
-
 OmahaRequestDeviceParams::OmahaRequestDeviceParams() :
     force_lock_down_(false),
     forced_lock_down_(false) {}
@@ -61,7 +58,7 @@
       "",
       &chromeos_update_engine::OmahaRequestDeviceParams::IsValidTrack,
       true);  // stateful_override
-  hardware_class = GetHardwareClass();
+  hardware_class = utils::GetHardwareClass();
   struct stat stbuf;
 
   // Deltas are only okay if the /.nodelta file does not exist.  If we don't
@@ -165,16 +162,6 @@
   return ret;
 }
 
-string OmahaRequestDeviceParams::GetHardwareClass() const {
-  string hwid;
-  if (!file_util::ReadFileToString(FilePath(root_ + kHWIDPath), &hwid)) {
-    LOG(ERROR) << "Unable to determine the system hardware qualification ID.";
-    return "";
-  }
-  TrimWhitespaceASCII(hwid, TRIM_ALL, &hwid);
-  return hwid;
-}
-
 bool OmahaRequestDeviceParams::ShouldLockDown() const {
   if (force_lock_down_) {
     return forced_lock_down_;
diff --git a/omaha_request_params.h b/omaha_request_params.h
index 7864370..edaba67 100644
--- a/omaha_request_params.h
+++ b/omaha_request_params.h
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright (c) 2010 The Chromium OS Authors. All rights reserved.
+// Copyright (c) 2011 The Chromium OS Authors. All rights reserved.
 // Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style license that can be
 // found in the LICENSE file.
 
@@ -121,10 +121,6 @@
   // Gets the machine type (e.g. "i686").
   std::string GetMachineType() const;
 
-  // Returns the hardware qualification ID of the system, or empty
-  // string if the HWID is unavailable.
-  std::string GetHardwareClass() const;
-
   // When reading files, prepend root_ to the paths. Useful for testing.
   std::string root_;
 
diff --git a/omaha_request_params_unittest.cc b/omaha_request_params_unittest.cc
index 3bf4ebc..458f582 100644
--- a/omaha_request_params_unittest.cc
+++ b/omaha_request_params_unittest.cc
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright (c) 2010 The Chromium OS Authors. All rights reserved.
+// Copyright (c) 2011 The Chromium OS Authors. All rights reserved.
 // Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style license that can be
 // found in the LICENSE file.
 
@@ -239,19 +239,6 @@
   EXPECT_FALSE(out.delta_okay);
 }
 
-TEST_F(OmahaRequestDeviceParamsTest, HardwareClassTest) {
-  string test_class = " \t sample hardware class \n ";
-  FilePath hwid_path(kTestDir + "/sys/devices/platform/chromeos_acpi/HWID");
-  ASSERT_TRUE(file_util::CreateDirectory(hwid_path.DirName()));
-  ASSERT_EQ(test_class.size(),
-            file_util::WriteFile(hwid_path,
-                                 test_class.data(),
-                                 test_class.size()));
-  OmahaRequestParams out;
-  EXPECT_TRUE(DoTest(&out, "", ""));
-  EXPECT_EQ("sample hardware class", out.hardware_class);
-}
-
 TEST_F(OmahaRequestDeviceParamsTest, OverrideTest) {
   ASSERT_TRUE(WriteFileString(
       kTestDir + "/etc/lsb-release",
diff --git a/utils.cc b/utils.cc
index 9c05a25..bcf34d5 100644
--- a/utils.cc
+++ b/utils.cc
@@ -66,6 +66,23 @@
   return !dev_mode;
 }
 
+string GetHardwareClass() {
+  // TODO(petkov): Convert to a library call once a crossystem library is
+  // available (crosbug.com/13291).
+  int exit_code = 0;
+  vector<string> cmd(1, "/usr/bin/crossystem");
+  cmd.push_back("hwid");
+
+  string hwid;
+  bool success = Subprocess::SynchronousExec(cmd, &exit_code, &hwid);
+  if (success && !exit_code) {
+    TrimWhitespaceASCII(hwid, TRIM_ALL, &hwid);
+    return hwid;
+  }
+  LOG(ERROR) << "Unable to read HWID (" << exit_code << ") " << hwid;
+  return "";
+}
+
 bool WriteFile(const char* path, const char* data, int data_len) {
   DirectFileWriter writer;
   TEST_AND_RETURN_FALSE_ERRNO(0 == writer.Open(path,
diff --git a/utils.h b/utils.h
index fb30055..7b39cd4 100644
--- a/utils.h
+++ b/utils.h
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright (c) 2010 The Chromium OS Authors. All rights reserved.
+// Copyright (c) 2011 The Chromium OS Authors. All rights reserved.
 // Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style license that can be
 // found in the LICENSE file.
 
@@ -33,6 +33,9 @@
 // boot mode. Returns false if the boot mode is developer.
 bool IsNormalBootMode();
 
+// Returns the HWID or an empty string on error.
+std::string GetHardwareClass();
+
 // Writes the data passed to path. The file at path will be overwritten if it
 // exists. Returns true on success, false otherwise.
 bool WriteFile(const char* path, const char* data, int data_len);