Patent ID: 7908050

Claim:
An in-vehicle emergency communicator for a vehicle with an external device comprising: a travel state information receiver for receiving travel state information regarding a travel state of the vehicle from the external device; a transmitter for transmitting an emergency message signal, which includes the travel state information, to a service center; and a controller for performing an emergency message operation, in which the transmitter transmits the emergency message signal to the service center when an emergency message trigger signal is inputted and an ignition signal from an ignition switch is in an ON-state, wherein: the controller analyzes the travel state information when the ignition signal from the ignition switch is in an OFF-state to determine whether the ignition signal has malfunctioned; when it is detected that the ignition signal has malfunctioned, the controller causes an indicator to indicate that the ignition signal has malfunctioned; the travel state information receiver receives vehicle travel speed information from the external device; and the controller determines whether, when the ignition signal from the ignition switch is in the OFF-state, the vehicle travel speed is greater than a predetermined speed for a predetermined time to thereby determine whether the ignition signal has malfunctioned.