• Does eCall hold personal data about me?

No, by design. eCall was designed to send a minimum amount of data when it activates following an incident, and this does not contain any personal data. The eCall unit in your vehicle has a separate sim number and only holds the Vehicle Identification Number of your vehicle. It does not know your name, address, or your own mobile number and does not sent any of your personal data to the emergency services when it activates. The emergency services will only hold the eCall data for as long as they need to manage the response to the incident.

• Can eCall track me while I’m driving?

No. The eCall unit is inactive until either you press the SOS button or your vehicle activates it when it detects a collision. The sim in the eCall unit is not connected to the mobile phone network until then. So until eCall is activated no-one can contact it and it doesn’t contact anyone or anything.

• Who answers eCall when it activates?

Usually it’ll be the 999/112 operator answering your call, just as if you had rung 999/112 on your phone. If you have a subscription service for your vehicle, your call may be answered by one of your manufacturer’s call centre staff instead; they can pass your call on to 999/112 for you.

Note that eCalls to a manufacturer’s call centre do not use the 999/112 priority call, so may take longer and can have reduced mobile coverage.

• Can I add eCall to my vehicle if it doesn’t have it?

There are some companies who sell eCall-compatible solutions that you can use. These sometimes use apps on your mobile phone and can also use dashcams.

As a start, please check out www.nextbase.com for dashcam solutions.

• Can I turn off the eCall in my vehicle?

Unless you are a mechanic, no, and even then you should not. eCall is there to help you if you ever have an accident. You wouldn’t take out your seatbelts, so you shouldn’t disable eCall.

• Does eCall tell the emergency services how fast my vehicle was going?

No, by design. Although eCall send up to three last known locations when it activates, the time between these locations cannot be known, so the speeds cannot be calculated. This was designed into eCall from the start, so eCall data cannot be used to work out vehicle speeds.

• How do I know if my vehicle has eCall?

If your car or light van was registered before 2018 then most likely not. The easy way to check is to see if you have a red SOS button in your vehicle. Sometimes the SOS button has a telephone symbol on it, and sometimes it is under a guard. Usually it is placed on the ceiling near the rear-view mirror. If you have a Tesla, it’s on your screen.

• Do motorcycles have eCall?

It’s not mandatory for them but some companies may fit it. For example, BMW fit eCall (BMW).

There are some companies who provide eCall-type services for motorcyclists. As a start, please check out www.realrider.com.

• How much does eCall cost me?

eCall is a mandatory safety feature built into all cars and vans type-approved since 2018. So it’s included in the price of the vehicle and it doesn’t cost anything to use. With some manufacturers you can pay a subscription service so your eCalls will go through to their service centre instead. In some cases it’s a lifetime subscription.

If your subscription expires, your eCall will revert back to calling 999/112 instead.

• What will happen when the 2G and 3G networks are turned off?

Good question. eCall will use any 2G network if there is no 3G network available. If there is no 2G network available, it will not be able to call 999/112. However, the consequences of the 2G/3G switch off are much wider than eCall – many other devices also use 2G and 3G sim cards – so this issue is being reviewed by governments throughout Europe.

The latest eCall units now use 4G/5G.

Best to look for answers from your national government.