[colug-432] Insurers track driver behavior via smartphones

[Joshua Kramer]

"I've wondered now and again if I got into a wreck if I shouldn't remove
that module before I let them tow the car away.  I don't drive like an
idiot, and have never had a wreck against my record.  I just think it is
none of the insurance company's business unless I choose to share the
information with them."

Good luck with that.  I'm not sure what you drive, but on many (most?)
Chrysler products, the airbag module is buried in such a way that you'd
have to remove the center console and part of the dash to get to it.  Even
if you're in a workshop that has the special tools required, it is still a
3-4 hour job.

I don't know what that (removing the airbag module) would get you, anyway.
Unless it notes something like you were driving 130 mph and didn't apply
the brakes before deployment.  But even then, the airbag module doesn't
have the last word.  I remember a case a few years back.  Someone was
driving on a wet road, they could not make the curve, and hit someone else
head-on.  The prosecutor was having a field day when he learned that the
airbag module recorded the person going ~90mph, in the rain, around a
curve.  What the defense was able to prove, though, was that the wheels
lost traction.  Even though the car was only traveling at 45-50 mph, the
wheels lost traction and started spinning, at ~90mph.

Having said that: I won't install one of those insurance devices, either.
I know with Allstate's plan, they only record "how often you go above
80mph, and how hard you start/stop/turn".  However... as I told my agent, I
love g-forces; I've been starting fast, stopping fast, and taking curves at
stupid speeds (in cars that I knew could handle those situations!) for
about 21 years now, and the only at-fault accident I've had was when I spun
out on a patch of black ice and hit a building.

-JK

On Fri, Sep 5, 2014 at 10:36 PM, Rick Hornsby <richardjhornsby at gmail.com>
wrote:

>
>
>
> On Fri, Sep 5, 2014 at 12:43 PM, R P Herrold <herrold at owlriver.com> wrote:
>
>> On Fri, 5 Sep 2014, tom wrote:
>>
>> > Probably will be put in engine management control units in the future
>>
>> Bluetooth enabled OBD devices are readily available [1], and
>> are all that is needed to gateway a bridge to a cell phone,
>> gps, and more.  Recording is already present in the OBD
>> device's backend;
>
>
> I want to upgrade my non-BT OBD-II monitor to a BT enabled one so it can
> throw the data onto my phone.  I forget to take the current one out, plug
> it into USB, fire up a Windows VM, download the information etc.  I already
> have an iPhone app (Roadtrip) I've been using for several years to punch in
> the ODO, volume, and price when I refuel.  It is one of those really
> reliable, used on a regular basis apps that I'm glad I bought.  I'd like to
> use the BT OBD-II to track other engine data as well though.
>
>
>> explicit or covert 'phone home' is trivial
>> at this point to implement; the NSA 'shopping catalog'
>> disclosed by Snowden describes several approaches
>
> Sell it as a way to:
>>         - let a parent 'protect' a young driver from thinking
>> they can 'get away' when out of sight of mom and dad ...
>>         - reduce rates [Progressive does / did this -- a
>> friend who signed up was identified as a lead-foot, jack
>> rabbit, and 'race up to a stop' style driver; no rate savings
>> for hime !!]
>>         - a 'keyless' keying -- no one leaves a cell phone
>> behind; permit registration of several on the vehicle, and one
>> will never be locked out / forget keys, etc again
>>         - the imagination boggles as to what marketing
>> opportunities exist to remove yet more anonynimity
>
>
> However.  I will never ever allow the insurance company or anyone else to
> track that information.  It is none of their damn business.  Period.  My
> driving -- provided I'm not being an idiot -- and my driving data belongs
> to me and me alone.
>
> I'm aware of the airbag module, and that it records crash data the
> insurance company may try to use against me.  However, it seems to me that
> both the module and the data it contains are mine.  I've wondered now and
> again if I got into a wreck if I shouldn't remove that module before I let
> them tow the car away.  I don't drive like an idiot, and have never had a
> wreck against my record.  I just think it is none of the insurance
> company's business unless I choose to share the information with them.
>
> In the same manner, I will also never allow the power company to hook up
> any devices that let them decide when I can run my A/C in exchange for some
> kind of discount or free "smart" thermostat they get to have some say over.
>  Not going to happen.  If I want to make my house so cold that it kills a
> polar bear, as long as I pay the electric bill, that's my business.
>
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