What if your car could talk to you, tell you its troubles, tell you whether the driver has been speeding or driving rashly, how much fuel was consumed and how much is left? You could do this with a new system called Suzuki Connect from Maruti. They call it a complete telematics solution and it collects data from the car and sends it to your smartphone via an app.
First, a few things about the Connect system. It includes a SIM card and data connectivity. That’s how you can connect to it remotely. The price you pay includes the cost of the hardware and the SIM service for three years. You have to pay the SIM card data charges (`300 per month) if you want to continue using the service after the initial three years.
Unlike some similar accessories in the market that plug into your car’s ODB (onboard diagnostics) port, Suzuki Connect is hardwired into the car — not visible and not removable. An obvious use case is being able to track where your vehicle is remotely — this greatly increases chances of recovery in case of theft. Next, it’s only available for the Nexa range of vehicles from Maruti – the Ignis, Ciaz, Baleno and S-Cross. Finally, you can choose Connect as an option if you’re buying a new car or bring in your existing vehicle to Maruti for a retrofit. Either way, it costs the same.
It uses map data from Here Maps and there are a host of additional features like geofences, trip distances, live car status (ignition status, battery voltage, seatbelt status) and alerts for things like low fuel, if the car is being towed away or if the driver is speeding. You can also add up to four emergency contacts in the app (they will be notified via SMS – they don’t need to have the app). We came to the conclusion that it’s well worth the money to secure your expensive purchase. Use it wisely and it’ll even pay for itself in saved fuel costs.
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