Are you still using the cellphone you had 10 or 15 years ago?
Unlikely. But few people consider whether the technology of their vehicle tracking device is outdated.
For example, some with Tracker have GSM tracking devices in their cars, which, thanks to cellphone technology, can pinpoint exactly where their car is at any time. Others, mostly those who had devices installed some years ago, have RF (radio frequency triangulation) devices, which don’t have that ability.
If you have one of those, the car will only be traced when you alert Tracker that your vehicle has been stolen or hijacked.
Phindile, a long-standing Tracker client, shared with me her recent experience with the company.
She’s been paying a monthly fee to Tracker since 2005 in respect of a Toyota RunX. Seventeen years!
She asked Tracker to locate the vehicle because a relative is driving it and she doesn't know where he or the car is.
She was told the device is dormant, but that the company is able to switch it on to get an “approximate location” should it receive a report that the vehicle has been stolen or hijacked, as opposed to the newer devices which are able to track live.
So when Tracker sends customers with RF devices those quarterly SMSes confirming the device has been tested and found to be “in working order”, it means it is able to tell it can locate the car should an emergency arise.
What Tracker understands by “testing for functionality” is, I daresay, not what customers with these old devices assume.
Phindile told me: “Tracker’s chief operations officer, Duma Ngcobo, confirmed that because the device was old they could not conduct a test with location results. How is that fair or ethical?”
I took up the issue with Ngcobo, who told me that historically vehicle tracking technology was “very much response orientated in that there had to be an event before a response could be initiated”.
The company no longer sells packages with those outdated devices, but many of its customers still have them in older cars and are paying pretty much the same every month as those with the newer devices, which allow vehicles to be pinpoint located at any time.
“The RF technology has been proven to work since its introduction in the American vehicle tracking market in 1986,” Ngcobo said.
“It continues to be used by law enforcement, military, mountain rescue and anti-poaching outfits throughout the world.” The unit sits in a near-dormant state until called upon to send a brief test response, he said, or when activated to initiate a recovery after a theft or hijack.
“To complete a successful unit test, the device is polled and returns a brief confirmation signal, indicating it is in working order, whereafter the unit automatically returns to its near-dormant state.”
Hence the conclusion that it’s in working order.
Whatever tracking company you’re with, it’s worth investigating the technological capability of the unit in your car. You may well find you can get a more advanced unit with better features for not much more.
In the case of an emergency, he said, “the unit is alerted that emergency mode protocol has been initiated and the unit starts to send out an emergency signal to nearby field RF devices. The recovery teams and SAPS alike will simply receive a signal from a vehicle indicating that it has been activated, the only inference to be drawn being that the vehicle has been involved in a theft or hijacking.
“Due to the unit in (Phindile’s) RunX operating on RF technology, we cannot offer her the same dot-on-map experience as offered through the Tracker Care unit in her other vehicle, which used GPS/GSM technology.
“Activating her unit would require confirmation that a theft or hijacking has occurred, evidenced by an SAPS case number, as well as an acknowledgment on her part that force may be used to recover her vehicle.
“Aside from confirming the positive report back from Phindile’s RF unit when polled during a health check, we cannot confirm the exact location of her RunX unless her RunX is activated and its location triangulated with our field triangulation units, which could have dire consequences for the occupant of the vehicle.
Why?
“The law-enforcement vehicle may be unmarked. It is not inconceivable that the occupant of the escaping vehicle may get hurt or killed in the process.
“Tracker also has strict protocols, as agreed with law enforcement, which regulate process and procedures allowing the activation of an RF Retrieve unit.”
Phindile researched the battery life of tracking devices and concluded that Tracker Retrieve, the device in her RunX, has a maximum lifespan/battery life of between three and five years.
“The new devices can go up to 10 years. There is no battery-operated tracking device with a lifespan of up to 17 years on the market, not even the hi-tech ones.
Ngcobo denied that.
“The Retrieve product draws power from the vehicle. The unit does contain a backup battery which is only used when there is tampering with the vehicle’s wiring and power to the Retrieve device is interrupted, so the vehicle can be tracked despite loss of vehicle-drawn power,” he said.
“Lithium batteries used in this way may last for many years in this (trickle-charged) state.”
Tracking devices based on cellular mobile internet data can work like the “find my phone” function on an iPhone by sending its location via the internet, Ngcobo said.
“One can be on the other side of the globe and see where the GSM device is on a map. It does not send out an emergency (help) signal like the Radio Frequency homing beacon does when activated.”
Which begs the question: why pay R100 or more a month for old technology that can’t pinpoint your car at any time when you can get the latest technology for about the same price with the same company or a competitor?
I suspect many people don’t think about that little gizmo hidden somewhere in their cars. They don’t question it, aren’t tech savvy and just keep paying every month.
Whatever tracking company you’re with, it’s worth investigating the technological capability of the unit in your car. You may well find you can get a more advanced unit with better features for not much more.
And if you haven’t questioned your subscription amount for a few years, maybe less.
• GET IN TOUCH: You can contact Wendy Knowler for advice with your consumer issues via e-mail: consumer@knowler.co.za or on Twitter: @wendyknowler.
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