European Parliament approves the ecall system

Ecall, an alarm system that automatically warns emergency services in the event of serious accidents involving a car, will be mandatory for new cars from March 31, 2018. The European Parliament decided on Tuesday.

In March, the European member states had already agreed to the mandatory introduction of ecall for new vehicles that come on the market from 31 March 2018. On Tuesday, the European Parliament also approved the introduction of ecall. This makes the introduction of the alarm system a fact. Three years after its introduction, ecall should also become mandatory for buses and trucks.

Ecall automatically contacts 112 if a car crashes. This is detected on the basis of collision sensors and the deployment of the airbags. Proponents of the system say ecall is particularly useful in sparsely populated areas, where there are often no bystanders to alert emergency services. The EU estimates that the system could save 2,500 lives a year, about 10% of the total number of road fatalities in the EU. The costs for an ecall system are estimated at around 100 euros per car.

The EU emphasizes that privacy is guaranteed with the introduction of ecall. For example, collected data from ecall may not be resold by care providers. Manufacturers must also promise that all data collected by ecall will be completely and permanently deleted. Furthermore, only basic information is collected, such as the vehicle type, the type of fuel, the time of an accident and the precise location.