New Alternative to PLB

Submitted: Saturday, Jan 13, 2018 at 15:51
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Reply By: Member - bungarra (WA) - Saturday, Jan 13, 2018 at 15:59

Saturday, Jan 13, 2018 at 15:59
Hi Allan...good find...hopefully not cost prohibitive.....

cheers

Graeme
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Follow Up By: Nomadic Navara - Saturday, Jan 13, 2018 at 23:58

Saturday, Jan 13, 2018 at 23:58
It's not in production yet so there is not yet a price.
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Reply By: HKB Electronics - Saturday, Jan 13, 2018 at 17:15

Saturday, Jan 13, 2018 at 17:15
Interesting device, one caution though is that it acts as a black box and records pre accident data, similar to the ABS/Airbag ECU's in some of the newer car models. This wouldn't worry me as I never break any road laws or drive for to long or erratically etc:) But for those that don't these recording devices are now coming back to bite people in the bum both here and overseas when the are interrogated by law enforcement and insurance companies etc.

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Reply By: Baz - The Landy - Saturday, Jan 13, 2018 at 17:33

Saturday, Jan 13, 2018 at 17:33
Great concept...!

Will be interesting to see how affordable the device will be.

Cheers, Baz
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Reply By: The Explorer - Saturday, Jan 13, 2018 at 20:21

Saturday, Jan 13, 2018 at 20:21
Hello

Not really an "alternative" to a PLB. No good if your emergency doesn't involve a crash (assuming no button to press in no crash event) and certainly useless if you go for a walk. Good idea nonetheless.

Always have found it strange that in this day and age that commerial aeroplanes never had such a thing (eg MH 370).

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Greg
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Follow Up By: Baz - The Landy - Saturday, Jan 13, 2018 at 20:44

Saturday, Jan 13, 2018 at 20:44
Hi Greg

Commercial aircraft do have inertia activated ELTs.

Cheers, Baz
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Follow Up By: Allan B (Sunshine Coast) - Saturday, Jan 13, 2018 at 20:45

Saturday, Jan 13, 2018 at 20:45
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It is an alternative Greg. Maybe not one that presses all your buttons but an alternative nevertheless. What adjective would you have me use in a headline?
And there IS an "SOS" button......
Did you read the text?
"It is triggered by sensors on impact, by fire, when submerged in water, on airbag deployment or even self-activated using an SOS button."
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Follow Up By: The Explorer - Saturday, Jan 13, 2018 at 21:29

Saturday, Jan 13, 2018 at 21:29
"Commercial aircraft do have inertia activated ELTs"

Going off topic but would seem that if they do then MH370 was some sort of exception but dont know full story. Maybe they don't work too well under a few kms of water.

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Greg
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Follow Up By: The Explorer - Saturday, Jan 13, 2018 at 21:44

Saturday, Jan 13, 2018 at 21:44
Hello Allan - yeah sorry I didn’t read the text. As stated in my post it was an assumption (did you read that :).

So - after this reassessment I suppose its rates as an "alternative" but only for a subset of the population (i.e. those that never go on a holiday/trip without their car or don't get more than a few hundred metres from it). Others would have to consider having both (and other options such as sat phones).

As you asked, would suggest "alternative/addition" as being a better title :) but it doesn't matter. I'm never going to search "alternative". Its the content that matters and its a very interesting subject.

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Greg
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Follow Up By: Allan B (Sunshine Coast) - Saturday, Jan 13, 2018 at 22:38

Saturday, Jan 13, 2018 at 22:38
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Thanks Greg, Agree that it is certainly not an equivalent to PLB, Satphone, SPOT and other devices, but it is an alternative which may suit some people.

From studying the website it would appear to consist of an installed head-unit connected to antennae and possibly some sensors, and a remote control which includes an SOS button.

Here are some grabs from their website to save some from trawling through it:

"Manual and automatic SOS alert to 000, 911 or 112 emergency numbers"

"Black Box crash data recording for 2-5 minutes before crash"

"Configurable via Bluetooth (eg: set In Case of Emergency contact details)"

"Transmits via satellite and GSM/GPRS"

"Dead reckoning (location estimate if GPS signal loss)"

"Records and transmits location, vehicle, fire, immersion and hazmat details"

"IMR Sentinel has been designed from the ground up to comply with eCall; the Pan-European cellular emergency system for motor vehicles. The EU has estimated that the introduction of the eCall directive will save 2500 lives per year across the EU through faster response times. By knowing the exact location and time of an accident it is estimated that there will be a 50% reduction in response times in rural areas and 40% reduction in response times in urban areas throughout Europe. The EU has mandated that all new cars sold after March 2018 will require an eCall-compliant crash alert device."

Don't think we will see it in Australia in the near future. I'll hang on to my satphone for a bit longer.

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Reply By: Member - Andrew & Jen - Sunday, Jan 14, 2018 at 09:51

Sunday, Jan 14, 2018 at 09:51
So what's the situation when you have a crash and no one is injured?

Can it be cancelled immediately?

It is well known that you can be killed in a vehicle doing 15kph and yet it is possible to walk away from an accident at 100kph

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Follow Up By: 9900Eagle - Sunday, Jan 14, 2018 at 10:36

Sunday, Jan 14, 2018 at 10:36
I would think it would be tied to the airbag system, measures g force, ascertains the vehicle has rolled over or it has ended up in a watercourse.

I would think that once one of these criteria are meet, most occupants would be injured and require medical treatment.

No doubt it could be cancelled by the driver if all was ok.
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Follow Up By: Iza B - Monday, Jan 15, 2018 at 06:23

Monday, Jan 15, 2018 at 06:23
Assuming you can get to the cancel switch.

Iza
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Follow Up By: Baz - The Landy - Monday, Jan 15, 2018 at 08:31

Monday, Jan 15, 2018 at 08:31
From the company's website...

"In the event of a serious crash., an instant alert is sent with the GPS location and vehicle particulars via the 000 emergency call network. A call is then made directly to the vehicle to check on the driver and passengers."

Cheers, Baz - The Landy
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Follow Up By: Member - Andrew & Jen - Monday, Jan 15, 2018 at 18:14

Monday, Jan 15, 2018 at 18:14
Thanks Baz
It follows that they can only follow up where there is mobile coverage, either Telstra or Optus depending on where you are.
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Andrew
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Follow Up By: Allan B (Sunshine Coast) - Monday, Jan 15, 2018 at 19:05

Monday, Jan 15, 2018 at 19:05
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Andrew, the product is not yet available for sale so no-one can answer your questions. Why not wait for full information before anticipating its operation?

I have 'registered my interest' and will keep the forum abreast of developments.

Cheers
Allan

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Reply By: Candace S. - Monday, Jan 15, 2018 at 09:07

Monday, Jan 15, 2018 at 09:07
General Motors offers something similar, called OnStar, in their vehicles. First offered in the 90's on US vehicles, it's now available on their vehicles in other countries too.

One big difference: Far as I know, it only connects via the "cell network." There's no satellite uplink, so if you happen to be in an area with no cell service, its not going to help you much. And yes, there are areas in the US, particularly in the Southwest, without cell service :)

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Reply By: Dean K3 - Friday, Jan 19, 2018 at 19:12

Friday, Jan 19, 2018 at 19:12
All good until the gps/glasnoss system is turned off by the yanks ruskies which renders it useless.

Always good to have a redundancy system regardless of system used, granted plb aren't much use if your unconscious turned turtle out bush, where its lucky to have a car a day or every few hours at best.

Toyota developed a system that uses WiFi signals to convey sos messages - I spotted a spiel on wicked web recently -but yet again all depends on when next vehicle (compatible) comes along and handshakes the message and takes it further away from incident

they don't call the first hour "the golden hour" for nothing

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Follow Up By: Member - Boobook - Saturday, Jan 20, 2018 at 15:36

Saturday, Jan 20, 2018 at 15:36
Dean, Toyota didn't develop that, a South Australia company called Cohda ( adhoc backwards). It was a marketing beat up invented by the advertising company that does both companies. Got a lot of press for something that doesn't work.

For it to work you would have to line up suitably fitted vehicles passing within 100m from your accident site back to a base. A simple store and forward system. It was pure and simple PR unfortunately.
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