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SOS button in cars

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  • Herzlos
    Herzlos Posts: 15,876 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    edited 24 January at 5:59PM
    Herzlos said:
    It's an EU thing, but not a UK thing. We'll probably follow along anyway.

    However, how many cars do you think are build here for the domestic market only?

    Realistically any car from an EU manufacturer or selling into the EU will add the feature and we'll get it anyway because it'll be cheaper than designing it out.
    Hard to say. Some people seem to think that brexit can only be a success if we do the opposite of what the EU does, no matter how daft it is.
    I think what happens is that if we can pass it off as our idea, we'll go along with it. If it's got EU or Europe in it's name then we reject it automatically :)
  • jimjames
    jimjames Posts: 18,657 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    That's what I like about the internet - a simple question and two diametrically opposed answers!
    But when a question is vague and can have multiple correct answers it's hardly surprising. The question makes no mention of new cars for example.
    Remember the saying: if it looks too good to be true it almost certainly is.
  • Robbo66
    Robbo66 Posts: 490 Forumite
    Fifth Anniversary 100 Posts Name Dropper
    castle96 said:
    and what happened????
    car started to dial a number so I hung up, must be honest am tempted to push it again to see if someone answers
  • born_again
    born_again Posts: 20,384 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Fifth Anniversary Name Dropper
    YES. But only on cars type approved after a certain date (don't know) So there are many brand new cars that will not have them as they were type approved long before that date.
    Life in the slow lane
  • Grumpy_chap
    Grumpy_chap Posts: 18,252 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    So. I'd never really thought about the SoS button before, but driving home today my wife pressed the SoS button by mistake while were were on the M25.  Nothing happened - I just carried on driving until we got home, parked on the drive and unloaded as we normally would and that was that.

    What should the SoS button actually do?
  • generally it should use a phone that is connected to  the the Entertainment system to call 999.  
  • Grumpy_chap
    Grumpy_chap Posts: 18,252 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    edited 8 November 2022 at 8:18AM
    That didn't happen.
    Perhaps we would have had to set the system up at some point and never did.
    Seems a bit pointless really - hard to think of a situation that I could press the SoS button but not make a call, especially given the car has voice dialling.
  • user1977
    user1977 Posts: 17,792 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Seventh Anniversary Photogenic Name Dropper
    That didn't happen.
    Perhaps we would have had to set the system up at some point and never did.
    Seems a bit pointless really - hard to think of a situation that I could press the SoS button but not make a call, especially given the car has voice dialling.
    Isn't it also meant to be triggered by the car "detecting" a crash? (presumably air bags going off) I have the facility in my (not particularly new) Focus, which is why it nags me to connect my phone via Bluetooth.
  • Grumpy_chap
    Grumpy_chap Posts: 18,252 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    My wife's Fiesta (that we were in) also nags to connect a phone and the phone was connected...
  • Goudy
    Goudy Posts: 2,148 Forumite
    Sixth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    My car has a "phone" built into the system. It doesn't need my own phone connected to operate the SOS system nor update things like maps.
    According to the documents in my cars "app", this will run until 2050.

    It works in one of two ways.
    Automatically, in the event of an accident, it's tripped by the airbags or the seatbelt pretensioners firing.

    Manually, by pressing and holding the button for at least 3 seconds.

    The button glows either red, green or nothing depending if there's a network available or a fault with the system.

    It contacts the emergency services local to where ever the car is and can also be used to inform them if you witness a serious accident, they can track the location of the car via the system.

    As a bonus, this allows me to track my car via the cars app.

    I presumed this is is all pretty standard these days, it's not like my car is flash, it's just a 2020 Clio.
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