Every time I unlock my 2020 Explorer ST and get in, it triggers a motion event causing me to dig for my phone and cancel the alert. If I’m fast enough to the cancel, it alerts a second time! It doesn’t seem to be sensitivity - but rather the communication from the vehicle to the Ring Car Cam. It might even be set off by the door unlock when the handle is touched because all doors are opened just as you put your hand around the door handle. Adjusting the sensitivity dramatically lower seemed to help (some). But IMO that’s defeating its own purpose. I’ve tried waiting ~ 15 seconds to enter the vehicle, but it still goes off! My settings are default except for Motion Frequency = Frequently, and the Explorer has all options - including the tech package - except rear seat DVD. Does anyone else experience this issue?
I’m sure since this Car Cam connects to the vehicle’s CAN-BUS, it’s watching for some specific data event to change it from parking-mode to drive-mode. Maybe this communication event is delayed because of all the things the car does at door unlock? Or does it just take the same 2+ seconds to wake-up and act on this event - as it does to start recording after an event? Is it detecting the shock of me opening the door during its wake-up? Or is it the slight rocking of the car as I get in? I know it’s NOT video motion detection - because it doesn’t have it.
I think Ring needs to come clean and TELL US exactly how this thing works… from A to Z… AND release an update to fix many of the complaints to date. I still have about 21 days to return both cams I bought. I’m giving them that amount of time to ACT. But I’m not holding my breath… I think they’re going to have a LOT of ‘renewed’ product to move through.
3 Likes
Hi @HappyValleyST. The Ring Car Cam functions differently than other Ring cameras, as it uses built-in sensors to detect a physical disturbance to your vehicle when it’s parked, such as an impact or someone entering your vehicle. It is not designed to detect someone passing by or just looking inside, it is focused on disturbances to your car. When a physical disturbance is detected, the cameras will start to record and you’ll get a motion alert in the Ring app. You can see what triggered the motion with Live View when your Car Cam is connected to your home wifi, or away from home with a Ring Protect Go subscription.
Thank you @Caitlyn_Ring for the reply… I guess everyone is experiencing this… Maybe it’s a feature people like?
I guess my questions really are:
- Why doesn’t the Car Cam know the vehicle is being unlocked with the FOB and immediately change modes to avoid notifications?
- Since you’re connected to the CAN-BUS, this leads to the question of… exactly what vehicle parameters are you monitoring - and what decisions are made from those parameters? Another thread mentions Ring collects battery voltage from this ODB II connection and the data is not tied to an account. But I know for a fact, battery voltage can be monitored without connecting to the vehicles CAN-BUS. And if you wanted to monitor when the engine is started, you can do this by simply watching the battery voltage increase dramatically - no CAN-BUS interface needed. So why are you connecting to the CAN-BUS with the highly sophisticated microprocessor (computer) interface and spending all that money of this connection if you’re not looking for simple communication like a door unlock signal? Like other concerned users have mentioned: Just exactly what ‘data-harvesting’ is Ring doing?
Why doesn’t Ring come clean and say to the world it does NOT have ‘video motion detection’ and the sensor(s) are shock - and (or) gyro-based X-Y-Z motion (low-g accelerometers) or whatever they are, and be sure potential buyers understand the technology pre-purchase?
~20 days and counting down…
4 Likes
@HappyValleyST The Ring Car Cam is designed to detect physical disturbances to your car, so this would include when you open the door and enter your vehicle. The Car Cam only collects battery voltage information from the vehicle to monitor and improve performance, and this data is not linked to your account.
1 Like
I’ve heard all that before… Care to elaborate?
2 Likes
I have a Honda accord 2018 highbred touring model with the same issue. Every time I get in the car or if I shut the car off and get out, I’m getting an alert from my car cam. Something needs to be done about this. There should be an easy fix so that when we open up our cars or when we shut the car off and get out that we’re not getting a ring alert which is confusing because at first I thought I was getting an alert about my home
1 Like