How does crash detection work?

Crash detection is a feature only available on Greenlight Infinity plans. To learn how to upgrade your account to Infinity, click here.

How does crash detection work?

Crash detection is available on the "Greenlight Infinity" plan. The Greenlight app monitors drives taken as either a driver or a passenger, and analyzes signals collected from the smartphone sensors to detect potential collisions.

Crash detection relies upon sensors within one's phone to detect a significant impact to a vehicle traveling at at least 10mph. Crash detection will therefore not detect fender-benders, being rear-ended, or other minor accidents. 

To learn how to set up crash detection, click here. 

What happens when Greenlight detects a crash? 

1. When a crash is detected by Greenlight, the user in the collision will receive a time-sensitive push notification and text asking if they have been in a crash and prompting them to confirm.
   • If the user responds saying they were not in a crash, Greenlight will cancel the alert to emergency dispatch services.
2. If the user does not respond within 30 seconds OR if they confirm they were in a crash, emergency dispatch will then be contacted and dispatched to the user's location.
3. Additionally, three minutes after a user either confirms their crash or does not respond to Greenlight's initial alert within 30 seconds, the user's emergency contacts in their family will be alerted of the potential crash and the location of the potential crash.

In order for Greenlight’s crash detection to detect a crash:

1. "Crash detection" must be enabled within the Greenlight app. 
2. The phone’s location permissions need to be set to allow location “Always” (not “While in Use”)
3. The user's phone must have a cellular signal, at least a 20% battery life, and must not be in power-saving mode.
   • Greenlight Infinity users with "Crash detection" turned on will be alerted that collision detection is no longer enabled whenever their phone battery dips below 20%.
4. The vehicle must be moving at a sustained speed of at least 10 mph and must have driven a distance of at least 0.2 miles at this minimum speed prior to the collision.
5. After the crash, the vehicle needs to come to a sudden and complete stop.

Please note, even if all the criteria above are met, Greenlight may not detect all major collisions due to network outages, error with the sensor on the mobile device,  availability of GPS location data, and crash location outside of a wireless service coverage area, etc.