Cologne firemen make haste in rescuing crash test dummies

Here's an interesting one. Apparently, a team of engineers failed to shut off the automated emergency calling system on a vehicle being used in a crash test facility in Germany, and as you may expect, it wasn't long after the dummies slammed into a wall that medical personnel were arriving on scene. It was reported that this incident was the first of its kind, as members of the Cologne fire brigade rushed out to what they believed was some sort of "massive" automobile accident. The firemen were able to locate the vehicle due to its integrated GPS unit, and while we're sure they were at least slightly confused upon arrival, at least they got to take the fire engine out for a leisurely spin.

[Thanks, Martin T., image courtesy of Edmunds]

[Chris @ Dec 11th 2007 3:19PM]

lol, i would have loved to have seen the medic's faces when they showed up

[Eldiablo @ Dec 11th 2007 3:20PM]

I'm surprised the GPS worked inside the 'crash factory'. Guess the roof's made from paper or something - those crazy Germans! :)

[CarpeD1em500 @ Dec 11th 2007 3:32PM]

What are you talking about? If your GPS receivers aren't working "inside" than you should upgrade cause between my cell phone, portable GPS, and the GPS in my car (which I know b/c inside the garage, it still works) - they all work indoors....

[Twitchy @ Dec 11th 2007 3:21PM]

Good to know that it works.

[Adam @ Dec 11th 2007 3:22PM]

"Hello Mr. John Dummy, this is OnStar, we have a report of an airbag deployment, are you all right? Hello? I'm sending help right away" LOL

[coplice @ Dec 11th 2007 3:25PM]

how long did it take for "help" to arrive at the crash site?

[oppositelock @ Dec 11th 2007 3:28PM]

This will be a real problem when these cars make it to the demo derby phase of their lives.

[Pedro @ Dec 11th 2007 3:33PM]

"at least they got to take the fire engine out for a leisurely spin."
And hopefully there wasn't a building burning down across town at the same time.

Doesn't matter what the cause was, fake callouts aren't a joke, guys. It's only a bit of fun until someone burns to death, because the people who were meant to be saving them were somewhere else. Right?

[Nubaeus @ Dec 11th 2007 3:36PM]

Negative nancy

[unkone @ Dec 11th 2007 3:47PM]

Debbie Downer

[whatishalo? @ Dec 11th 2007 4:12PM]

Don't vote for Pedro (he's a downer)...

[Matthew Hilario @ Dec 11th 2007 4:43PM]

party poopin pedro.

[MARSHAK @ Dec 11th 2007 4:48PM]

shut it, hes right. what if your wife or children or parents died in a fire because someone forgot to follow procedure at work? you wouldnt be laughing BECAUSE IT ISNT FUNNY! Does this present an inherent flaw in this kind of technology? maybe. But luckily this was done at a testing facility, such issues can be reviewed by the manufacturer properly.

[Kido1986 @ Dec 11th 2007 5:57PM]

That's not funny. My brother died that way!

[adam @ Dec 11th 2007 7:13PM]

In a manufacturer's crash test?

[katakata @ Dec 11th 2007 10:32PM]

LMAOROFLWTFBQQ!!!

[Twitchy @ Dec 11th 2007 11:24PM]

The absolute majority of callouts for fire services are false alarms. This was just one more. But unlike the idiots who at the age of 23 still find it funny to intentionally set off an alarm (true story - pity there's a law against culling stupid people), I'm guessing these scientists learnt something new. So quit getting your knickers in a twist, unless you are going to dish out the same lecture to every party ever responsible for a false alarm.

Sheesh, some people have no humour (pity there's a law against culling uberserious people).

[Pavan @ Dec 13th 2007 3:24AM]

I think what Pedro's saying is that instead of spending all that money on crash test dummies...why not just use someone who'll be missed even less: him.

To the person who called him Debbie Downer...that's the first thing I thought of when I read his comment!

[monkfishbandana @ Dec 11th 2007 3:36PM]

Wrong.

[monkfishbandana @ Dec 11th 2007 3:36PM]

Wrong.

[monkfishbandana @ Dec 11th 2007 3:39PM]

Sorry, that was meant @ Pedro.

Ahh man! Not only did someone reply before me, but I didn't reply at all. Daing it! I admit, I sat here with a smile of self-satisfaction on my face - knowing that my comment would rule this article and get a "Highest Rated".

Now all I've earned is an epic SELF-FAIL.

[Chris @ Dec 11th 2007 3:39PM]

If I were responding to this, and realized that the crash was inside a crash test facility, I'd probably start thinking "man, isn't this ironic."

[Shane @ Dec 11th 2007 3:42PM]

Cost of an automated-emergency-response equipped vehicle? $20,000.

Cost of watching confused emergency responders show up to a crash test facility? Priceless.

(Yeah, I know...It wouldn't be funny if the false call-out resulted in a major casualty somewhere. Just goes to show that even engineers miss those little details from time to time.)

[Chad @ Dec 11th 2007 5:27PM]

You forgot:

Cost of Emergency vehicle $500,000 +

&

Cost of Emergency run time and materials ~$5,000

[Shane @ Dec 11th 2007 5:48PM]

Chill out...I know the cost of emergency runs. I have friends who work for the PD and FD. Even they got a chuckle out of this one. Forgetting to disable these systems (or activating them in the first place in a vehicle destined for a crash) is pure engineering "oops" at its finest.

[chuck @ Dec 11th 2007 3:45PM]

what?

[kevjohn @ Dec 11th 2007 3:55PM]

I bet the Cologne firemen smell really nice.

[irshliquor @ Dec 11th 2007 4:29PM]

best. post. ever.

[heather.leigh.corcoran @ Dec 16th 2007 7:32AM]

Ha ha ha ha. Awesome.

[BigBirdUK @ Dec 11th 2007 6:09PM]

Not when they've been drinking their ass wein!

http://www.asswein.de/

(but I do agree with Best. Post. Ever.)

Regards, Mark

[jon @ Dec 11th 2007 4:36PM]

as a medic id love to have patients that cant talk back and their monitors can tell you exactly whats wrong with them and what part numbers you need to fix them...
rescue the robot overlords... lol

[r3loaded @ Dec 11th 2007 5:13PM]

This sooo reminds me of Die Hard 4, the kid trying to get OnStar to start the car for him :p

[Travis Molleck @ Dec 11th 2007 7:47PM]

I wonder if this is the Mercedes Benz plant where they forgot to arm the radar cruse control demo?

[Suhag Patel @ Dec 12th 2007 7:35PM]

This is very nifty system. To think of the lives thatd be saved. But its still ironic that the manufacturer's test would set this off. I bet the enginners were just playing a prank on the firefighters, j/k