- Emergency Assistance helps connect vehicle occupants to emergency service operators in the event in of a crash, giving detailed GPS location information and opening a line of communication with emergency responders
- Ford’s Emergency Assistance technology, which uses Ford’s SYNC® in-car connectivity system, is already available in more than 9 million Ford vehicles globally
Adding to Ford’s stable of technology offerings in Asia Pacific, Ford today announced that it will bring its Emergency Assistance system to Taiwan. In the event of an accident, Emergency Assistance uses Ford’s SYNC technology to automatically dial emergency services.
The system is free of charge, does not require a subscription and is already available in 9 million vehicles worldwide, giving owners peace of mind when traveling.
“We’re proud to announce that Emergency Assistance will become available in Taiwan,” said Joe Beiser, Director of Ford Connected Services, Asia Pacific, Africa and Europe. ”We’ve seen elsewhere in the world that it can really be a life-saver, so we’re pleased that more of our customers will have access to the technology.”
In the event that an airbag is deployed or the emergency fuel pump shut off is triggered, Emergency Assistance uses the SYNC platform to activate the calling feature in order to connect with emergency operators. The Emergency Assistance system then informs operators that a crash has occurred and provide GPS location information.
SYNC is Ford’s in-car connectivity system that allows users to pair their mobile phones with Ford’s voice control interface, which then allows them to make and receive calls, control the radio and more while keeping their hands on the wheel and their eyes on the road.
“Since Ford introduced 911 Assist, the North American version of Emergency Assist, in 2008, we have received remarkable feedback about how the technology has made a difference to the lives of some of our customers,” said Beiser.
How Emergency Assistance works
Once SYNC has been properly paired with a driver’s phone, the Ford SYNC Emergency Assistance system is always running in the background where mobile service is available via a Bluetooth® connection. In the event of a collision – determined by either the airbag deploying or the initiation of the emergency fuel pump shut off – Emergency Assistance dials emergency services.
After the initial setup, the driver’s mobile phone automatically connects every time the driver gets in the car with the phone powered on and Bluetooth® activated. In the event of a crash, before the emergency call is placed the SYNC system will provide a 10-second countdown to allow the driver or passenger to cancel the call in the event that emergency services are not needed. If the call isn’t cancelled, the Emergency Assistance system places the call and connects to emergency operators.
If the driver is using the phone at the time of an accident, the Emergency Assistance system will disconnect the call in progress and initiate the emergency call. Additionally, any incoming calls will not interrupt the connection with emergency services. If the driver leaves the vehicle, they can take their phone with them and continue the emergency call as they move away from the car.
In the event that the driver cannot communicate with the emergency operator, the system will provide an introductory message and tell the emergency operator that an accident has occurred, followed by GPS location information.
Ford’s Emergency Assistance system only requires the one-time setup to pair the phone with SYNC; there are no additional costs or subscriptions associated with the service. The first time a phone is paired with the system, a prompt asks if the owner would like to activate SYNC Emergency Assistance for all paired phones. Once turned on, it remains so until the driver elects to turn the feature off.
