Patent ID: 8260251

Claim:
An emergency call apparatus in combination with a vehicle having an air bag system, the combination comprising: means for supplying an ignition signal indicating status of an ignition switch in the vehicle to the emergency call apparatus and the air bag system; a GPS receiver configured to acquire positioning data which indicates a current position based on GPS signals from GPS satellites; a control unit configured to transmit to a service center an emergency call signal including the positioning data acquired by the GPS receiver when a start trigger occurs, on condition that the ignition signal indicates that the ignition switch is on; and a positioning data comparing unit configured to compare first positioning data with second positioning data, both positioning data being acquired by the GPS receiver when the ignition signal indicates that the ignition switch is off and at different time points separated from each other by a time period exceeding a prescribed time period, wherein the control unit determines and reports to a user that the supplying means has failed, in cases that (i) the positioning data comparing unit determines that the first positioning data is different than the second positioning data and (ii) the supplying means supplies the ignition signal indicates indicating that the ignition switch is off; and the control unit does not transmit the emergency signal to the service center when the start trigger occurs in cases that the supplying means supplies the ignition signal indicating the ignition switch is off.