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Mercedes recalls nearly 1.3 million cars over emergency call tech
Mercedes-Benz is recalling nearly 1.3 million cars to fix an emergency calling system flaw that could send rescuers to the wrong location.
Europe is making in-car emergency calling standard by 2018
More than 25,700 people died driving on european highways last year. In an effort to reduce these incidents, the European Parliament has voted to outfit every new passenger car and light truck in the EU with an auto-dialing system that rings 112 (Europe's 911) in the event of a major accident. Known as eCall, it will be "a public service, free of charge for all citizens, irrespective of the type of vehicle or its purchase price," MEP Olga Sehnalova explained in a statement. They'll also be standard options for all new vehicles sold after March 31st, 2018.
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]
