So you’ve noticed an elderly relative isn’t driving as well as he used to. There are scrapes on the car, he’s hugging the road’s shoulder driving far below the speed limit. A short trip to the grocery store involves blaring horns from the multiple drivers he unknowingly cut off.
You’re worried about him, but how can you know for sure that he’s a danger to himself and others? Even worse, how do you convince Pep Pep to hand over the keys before he mistakes the gas pedal for the brake and ends up driving his Avalon through the candy aisle at Walgreens?
Objectively, of course — with cold, hard data.
A few years ago, a number of devices hit the market promising to tell parents what misdeeds their teen drivers were committing while behind the wheel. From speed limiters to GPS trackers, these electronic nannies promised to put the brakes on Junior’s hot rodding. It was only a matter of time before savvy marketers figured out that those in the “sandwich” generation are just as worried about their parents as their kids.
CarCheckup is one such device. A nondescript gray box, it plugs into a vehicle’s On-Board Diagnostic II (OBD II) port and records miles traveled, panic braking, heavy acceleration and a myriad of other statistics ranging from RPM to fuel flow.
The company has turned its attention to older drivers, and will soon be redesigning its website to appeal to caregivers of the elderly. It’s a smart move as teen vehicle use falls due to high unemployment for highschoolers, and America’s average age gets further over the hill with each passing second.
With some help from a member of the target demographic (this writer’s father, who just turned 76), we checked out CarCheckup.
Using a Chevy Cruze that neither of us had driven before, and not telling Dad what the purpose of the experiment was (he thought he was test driving the car), we each took the car for half a day and ran identical errands. We each took routes with which we felt comfortable, with a mix of back roads and highways.
When I got back to my computer, I plugged CarCheckup into the USB port and uploaded data to the device’s dedicated website — which only works with Windows and Internet Explorer. After a quick chat with a helpful customer service agent who helped me undo a mistake I’d made entering vehicle information, a series of charts and graphs appeared onscreen.
With Dad behind the wheel, top speed was 66 mph over a 33.8 mile route. He spent most time between 1 and 39 mph, with only one instance each of extreme braking and extreme acceleration — most likely merging on and off the highway. He hit the brakes hard twice.
I fared a little worse. With a top speed of 79 mph, I hit the brakes hard three times, while accelerating and braking in an “extreme” manner once each. It took Dad ten more minutes to get to his destination, but he covered fewer miles and did so without driving aggressively.
The verdict is in: Dad gets to keep his keys, and I should turn on some Enya while I’m driving. Had the car had any problems during the trip that caused the “check engine” light to glow, CarCheckup would’ve diagnosed them, too.
It’s certainly not a perfect system. The website wouldn’t let me remove erroneous data I’d accidentally added, but customer service was extremely helpful in resolving it. Adding a second car costs $25, and lack of compatibility with Macs, more desirable browsers or hybrid cars is a pain.
Also, there’s no official definition on the company website for “extreme” braking or acceleration, though top speed contains an RPM readout. The device itself, though plain looking, is large enough to make more paranoid oldsters fear they’re being tracked by the government — not just their kids.
It’s important to remember that CarCheckup doesn’t track near-misses, ignored stop signs or omnipresent left turn signals. For that, you’ll have to brave the passenger seat.
Still, if you’re worried about Nana or Gramps and fear that it might be difficult to start a productive conversation about restricting an elderly relative’s autonomy, CarCheckup might be a worthy investment. Or, you might be pleasantly surprised to find out your father is a safer driver than you are.
WIRED Confront elderly relatives with definitive proof of their bad driving. Track vehicle speed, acceleration and braking data without oldsters catching on. Boring design helps it blend in.
TIRED Must be used with Internet Explorer and a PC running Windows. Useless if Gramps drives a hybrid or a car made before 1995.
Photos by Keith Barry/Wired