GremlinTrap

Keeping your vehicle properly maintained improves your gas mileage by on average 4%. Maintenance issues that may only manifest themselves intermittently are extremely difficult to track down, frustrating for the mechanic and the driver, and potentially very detrimental to the fuel efficiency of the vehicle. A malfunctioning oxygen sensor, for example, can cause up to a 40% reduction in fuel efficiency. Our submission is a smartphone application that connects to the vehicle via bluetooth. It gathers data about the trip as it is occurring. It maintains all available information about the trip until the next trip is started. If the driver notices a mechanical problem (knocking sound, intermittent check engine light, etc), the user can access their smartphone at the end of the trip, and save the data along with their text description of the problem that occurred. This information will help the mechanic diagnose the problem and will also highlight any readings from the vehicle which are outside their normal threshold. Redstoke is a mobile software company focused on solutions to energy efficiency and smart grid problems using mobile technology. It was founded in 2012 by Lorraine Wheeler, a successful entrepreneur with extensive experience in mobile applications, energy, and bluetooth communications. The first company she founded, a mobile email company, was sold to Palm, Inc in 2000 and her software was shipped on millions of Palm Treo devices. Lorraine is also a busy mom whose vehicle had five visits to the car dealership over a one year period to fix an intermittent check engine light. On the fourth visit, she was told it had been "throwing a cat code". The final solution involved warranty replacement of the catalytic converters and the repair delay resulted in significant frustration and one year of sub optimal fuel efficiency. The GremlinTrap application is an application that can be used by everyone, including the disabled, to help solve these frustrating problems with open access to data and mobile technology. GremlinTrap is a very straightforward mobile application with limited implementation risk that can be completed in the remaining time of the challenge.