The stolen vehicle tracking system fitted to the Mercedes-Benz M-Class carjacked by Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev helped police hunt down the alleged Boston Marathon bombers.
Industry journal Automotive News reports authorities contacted Mercedes-Benz USA to help track the stolen ML350 SUV on April 19 using the Stolen Vehicle Location Assistance function that is part of the car’s ‘mbrace’ telematics system.
Mercedes-Benz spokeswoman Donna Boland confirmed the manufacturer reacted to requests to turn on the system: “The authorities asked that mbrace be activated and … it was”.
Mercedes-Benz USA CEO Steve Cannon took to Twitter last week upon hearing the news.
“Just found out that our mbrace2 technology in the stolen Mercedes helped locate the Boston terrorists! Thanks to our amazing law enforcement.”
Reports suggest the duo held the owner of the M-Class, 26-year-old entrepreneur ‘Danny’, hostage for 90 minutes before he escaped and fled to police when they were forced to stop for fuel.
With Danny’s permission, authorities used the satellite navigation-linked mbrace system to track down the SUV.
Older brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed in a shootout with police roughly one hour later.
