Do good and talk about it – gladly, especially when it’s about the mobile rescue data sheets. After all, in November 2010 Opel was the first carmaker to offer this type of service for smartphones free of charge.

Development has been continuous: from zero to 60 at the beginning in 2010. Now there is data for 70 models, including for the Ampera electric car and the HydroGen4 fuel-cell vehicle. And for the “Car of the Year 2012, there are additional service numbers in 40 European countries available, ensuring complete technical assistance in the event of an emergency.

The rescue data sheets are still exclusive, but we are hoping for a lot of copycats. The current 1,680 data sheets in 24 languages give rescue crews life-saving information about the location of airbag inflators, body reinforcements, fuel lines, the tank and battery. This is without a doubt a huge plus for the around 40,000 professional rescuers and 1.3 million volunteers in Germany. After all, these vehicle components don’t always get along with rescue-service cutters, spreaders and hydraulic legs.

All data for the listed Opel models from 1991 to present are available online at http://www.opel-rescuecard.com. The new Astra GTC, the Corsa LPG, the passenger car variant of the new Combo and the new Zafira Tourer are on this list for the first time. Over http://www.ifz-berlin.de the Opel rescue data sheets can be downloaded and printed out. So far there have been 220,000 hits since the introduction of the service. The number speaks for itself and shows that we are keeping pace with the trends in mobile communication.

But there’s more. Our goal in the task force „Rescuing people from cars in accidents” comprising the VDA and VDIK, fire department, ADAC and Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA) is to offer all involved rescue personnel uniform information across manufacturer lines. I represent us here and we currently hold the chair of this committee. An important step is the law that is to go into effect in May. This would enable rescue crews central access to the rescue data sheets of all manufacturers over a DAT server by submitting an online license-number query to the KBA. There the German license number is attributed to the registered vehicle type, thus enabling the exact automatic selection of the rescue data sheet.