Mercedes-Benz stolen car tracking works, just ask the Boston Marathon bombers
http://latestsnewsforyou.blogspot.com/2013/05/mercedes-benz-stolen-car-tracking-works.html
By Bill Howard
For all the feet on the street chasing the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing, a key break came when the victim who was carjacked and released by the Tsarnaev brothers on April 19 told the cops his Mercedes could be tracked with one quick call to Mercedes-Benz. They called and an hour later the police had the vehicle surrounded. A shootout ensued and when it was over, older brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev was dead, apparently either from gunshot wounds or being run over by his brother.
Boston police aren’t saying much. Mercedes-Benz provided a few details, since the general workings of its mbrace2 telematics system are well-known and described on the Mercedes-Benz USA website. Mercedes’ mbrace is a telematics application best-known for upgradable over the air (OTA) updates, without the need for a dealer visit.
The core features of the $280-a-year mbrace service include automatic crash notification and remote door unlock, as well as stolen vehicle location assistance. For most users, you have to file a written stolen vehicle report with the police first, primarily so Mercedes doesn’t get involved in tracking spouses sneaking around on each other. (Although there is an iPhone app for that, intended to make sure you know where teen drivers are.) The robustness of mbrace was a key reason we named the ML’s big brother, the Mercedes-Benz GL SUV, one of the ExtremeTech ten best tech cars.
The 26-year-old carjacking victim had a 2013 Mercedes-Benz ML 350 SUV with mbrace active (there’s a six-month complimentary period). According to the Boston Globe, once he was released, the victim told police his Benz could be tracked. Boston PD contacted the mbrace call center. Mercedes spokeswoman Donna Boland said the request was authenticated and tracking turned on. “The authorities asked that mbrace be activated [and] it was.” That was about an hour before the confrontation with Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, as police located and then confronted the vehicle and its occupants, the alleged Boston Marathon bombers.
extremetech.com
Boston police aren’t saying much. Mercedes-Benz provided a few details, since the general workings of its mbrace2 telematics system are well-known and described on the Mercedes-Benz USA website. Mercedes’ mbrace is a telematics application best-known for upgradable over the air (OTA) updates, without the need for a dealer visit.
The 26-year-old carjacking victim had a 2013 Mercedes-Benz ML 350 SUV with mbrace active (there’s a six-month complimentary period). According to the Boston Globe, once he was released, the victim told police his Benz could be tracked. Boston PD contacted the mbrace call center. Mercedes spokeswoman Donna Boland said the request was authenticated and tracking turned on. “The authorities asked that mbrace be activated [and] it was.” That was about an hour before the confrontation with Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, as police located and then confronted the vehicle and its occupants, the alleged Boston Marathon bombers.
extremetech.com
