I am posting this here as when I was making my own decisions regarding alcohol interlock devices (AID's just to save typing from this point forward), I found useful/practical advice difficult to find. Part of this is because the various AID providers overwhelm Google search results. Interestingly enough, if you just Google the string "alcohol interlock device advice" without excluding the largest AID providers, this forum is the first thing (not sponsored by an attorney or AID provider) to show up and THIS thread is the first specific link. So this would, surprisingly, seem to be the best place to post possibly helpful information about dealing with AID's.
I am not going to take a position of 'right or wrong' here - it is what it is. But there are important decisions that have to made up front and they can VERY hard or impossible to undo. FWIW I ended up with Smart Start and probably would have made that choice had I been fully informed as they are the most convenient to me (small town - not lots of options). My general impression of Smart Start is neutral.
1) From all that I can tell "funny stuff can happen" WRT to your device (I would not judge this to be common, BTW). This can be anything from reports of tampering when none existed to various alarm malfunctions, starter problems, etc. If you run into this, MUCH of your experience here is going to be driven by the attitude of your installer. I would strongly suggest (assuming that you have provider choices) that you visit the installer and ask some questions simply to assess his/her willingness to be helpful. This attitude is crucial, IMHO. And this might be the most important decision that you make. And I would never choose a shop that does other stuff as this installation seems to be far more difficult than you would expect (my guy took almost 5 hours and in my judgment he is competent).
2) Support at the corporate level (like calling their 800 number) will be wonderful before you are a customer. After you are a customer this will degrade a bunch (long wait times on phone calls, etc), but in my experience it is no worse than the DMV on a bad day. But to give you a feel here, when you get your device installed you watch a video tape that goes over the basics. According to the installer that tape was 'designed for Texas' and the instructions on how to blow are just flat wrong (in NC). It said that you should give the paperwork to the DMV (wrong - it goes to the court who gives it to the DMV in NC). And customer service calls generally are 25 to 30 minute waits. Stuff like that.
3) At least in NC the device 'retest requirements' are such that you can pretty much guarantee a required 'rolling test' in the first 8 minutes after starting your car. It seems to vary pretty randomly (by design) from that point forward. In my circumstances I drive this car VERY little, so most of what I know is from talking to other users (sorry, forgot where I am - other criminals). It seems that a couple tests per hour is the norm (after starting and the first rolling test). FWIW, I do end up moving my car in/out of the garage on a somewhat regular basis.
4) This one is VERY important. The AID providers will tell you that their device 'only' draws 0.25A and that this is "no problem for a good battery". This is bullsh!t. Automotive batteries are NOT designed for frequent deep (or even frequent/moderate) discharges. They are designed to put out 100+ amps for a couple seconds and then back to being charged (unlike deep cycle batteries). A week of a 0.25A draw (then start and recharge) and repeat week after week will probably destroy a brand new battery within a year or so. Clearly this is less of a problem for a car driven daily. Since I rarely drive my car I keep a high quality charger (as in one that will not overcharge) plus a timer going while the car is sitting. BTW, .025 to .035 amps of parasitic draw is considered a problem for my vehicle. And if you do fully discharge your battery down to 'dead battery state' the device will record a "tampering event" costing you $50'ish (in NC) and pretty much a guaranteed visit to the local DMV court.
5) The risk of a 'false positive' due to various foods is not as big as I might have guessed (and it is not zero either). I ended up buying a 'companion/handheld AID' that uses the same sensor as my AID and I always pre-test before using the actual device. And I have done a fair bit of experimenting. Lots of mouthwash products are a problem (just for grins I generated a 0.85 reading, not .085, once on my companion AID), some cheeseball products, Food Lion Diet Ginger Ale, and Mint Chocolate flavor Clif's bars all generate readings of 0.04 or above for me (for short periods of time). I talked to one guy who said that non-diet Mountain Dew and, to a lesser extent, pretty much any sugared soft drink will generate a non zero reading in his case. I am guessing that this is a function of your personal gut and mouth bacteria profile as I don't think that I have this problem (but I don't drink sugared soft drinks either).
6) With all the cycling that I do I don't need to strictly follow my Atkins diet. But I did go into Ketosis (intentionally) a while back to blast off a couple of holiday pounds. I seemed to pretty consistently generate around a .02 in that case (at the peak only). For me in NC if I were to try to drive in that condition (or even just try to start the car) I would get a warning. And then the device would require a retest every two minutes until it reads zero (even if you did not start the car). And in NC you are stuck in this mode until you can generate a zero reading. Failing that would be a 'violation' (costs $50 in NC and a possible visit to the local DMV court). I can't imagine using this device without the ability to test 'offline', but that is me. BTW in NC you cannot do a test first thing in the morning, see a non-zero reading, and just don't start the car and go back and call a cab. You will have to retest your way back to zero (or get a violation).
7) In NC the methodology "to blow" is simply a (very) loud and strong hum. I mean if you were to do it in a public place all conversation would stop. The test requires both the sound and resulting airflow (other states can have very different methodologies here). My wife has heard me 'blow and succeed' and 'blow and fail' (device says "blow again"). She has never tried it, but it is her opinion that she couldn't do it (mild asthma). Be aware if your the car is to be driven by others. And other states can be very different in this regard, some requiring a sequential "blow and suck" sequence that I would judge to be an iffy kind of thing to do in difficult traffic situations (not as hard in NC).
8) The car repair process is somewhat problematic. If your mechanic (from a "known" auto repair shop) calls some AID provider phone number (only from a landline) they will get a code that will temporarily disable the AID (not all states allow this, BTW). I have made that call a couple of times just to see what a mechanic would experience here. I got through fairly quickly once and waited 15 minutes once. If you have a choice of cars, the one that is less likely to require much service might be the better choice. Or maybe the choice is driven by the patience of the mechanic/shop that works on that car. And this is very state specific. This is not an issue in my case as I won't be driving enough to generate any need for service (hopefully). But in other circumstances I would be doing some advance work regarding this problem, or maybe just planning on 'spending the day' blowing as required (assuming your mechanic will allow you to go back into the shop area). You get 5 minutes to respond to a retest request (and just turning the engine off does not mean that you don't need to execute the retest).
And a few interesting NC quirks. It would appear that installing this device on a car that I (for all practical purposes) cannot drive will fulfill their requirements (as would installing one on my wife's car that I don't drive, assuming that my name was also on the title). And another thing is that if your license is suspended in NC due to a DUI and you are required to install a AID, you will never get a license anywhere in the US until you actually own a car in NC. Their requirement is that the device be installed on a car that you own, and if you never meet this requirement then you will never get your license back, and you will remain a problem on the NDR (forever). I did verify this with the DMV, BTW. Kind of interesting.
I am not going to take a position of 'right or wrong' here - it is what it is. But there are important decisions that have to made up front and they can VERY hard or impossible to undo. FWIW I ended up with Smart Start and probably would have made that choice had I been fully informed as they are the most convenient to me (small town - not lots of options). My general impression of Smart Start is neutral.
1) From all that I can tell "funny stuff can happen" WRT to your device (I would not judge this to be common, BTW). This can be anything from reports of tampering when none existed to various alarm malfunctions, starter problems, etc. If you run into this, MUCH of your experience here is going to be driven by the attitude of your installer. I would strongly suggest (assuming that you have provider choices) that you visit the installer and ask some questions simply to assess his/her willingness to be helpful. This attitude is crucial, IMHO. And this might be the most important decision that you make. And I would never choose a shop that does other stuff as this installation seems to be far more difficult than you would expect (my guy took almost 5 hours and in my judgment he is competent).
2) Support at the corporate level (like calling their 800 number) will be wonderful before you are a customer. After you are a customer this will degrade a bunch (long wait times on phone calls, etc), but in my experience it is no worse than the DMV on a bad day. But to give you a feel here, when you get your device installed you watch a video tape that goes over the basics. According to the installer that tape was 'designed for Texas' and the instructions on how to blow are just flat wrong (in NC). It said that you should give the paperwork to the DMV (wrong - it goes to the court who gives it to the DMV in NC). And customer service calls generally are 25 to 30 minute waits. Stuff like that.
3) At least in NC the device 'retest requirements' are such that you can pretty much guarantee a required 'rolling test' in the first 8 minutes after starting your car. It seems to vary pretty randomly (by design) from that point forward. In my circumstances I drive this car VERY little, so most of what I know is from talking to other users (sorry, forgot where I am - other criminals). It seems that a couple tests per hour is the norm (after starting and the first rolling test). FWIW, I do end up moving my car in/out of the garage on a somewhat regular basis.
4) This one is VERY important. The AID providers will tell you that their device 'only' draws 0.25A and that this is "no problem for a good battery". This is bullsh!t. Automotive batteries are NOT designed for frequent deep (or even frequent/moderate) discharges. They are designed to put out 100+ amps for a couple seconds and then back to being charged (unlike deep cycle batteries). A week of a 0.25A draw (then start and recharge) and repeat week after week will probably destroy a brand new battery within a year or so. Clearly this is less of a problem for a car driven daily. Since I rarely drive my car I keep a high quality charger (as in one that will not overcharge) plus a timer going while the car is sitting. BTW, .025 to .035 amps of parasitic draw is considered a problem for my vehicle. And if you do fully discharge your battery down to 'dead battery state' the device will record a "tampering event" costing you $50'ish (in NC) and pretty much a guaranteed visit to the local DMV court.
5) The risk of a 'false positive' due to various foods is not as big as I might have guessed (and it is not zero either). I ended up buying a 'companion/handheld AID' that uses the same sensor as my AID and I always pre-test before using the actual device. And I have done a fair bit of experimenting. Lots of mouthwash products are a problem (just for grins I generated a 0.85 reading, not .085, once on my companion AID), some cheeseball products, Food Lion Diet Ginger Ale, and Mint Chocolate flavor Clif's bars all generate readings of 0.04 or above for me (for short periods of time). I talked to one guy who said that non-diet Mountain Dew and, to a lesser extent, pretty much any sugared soft drink will generate a non zero reading in his case. I am guessing that this is a function of your personal gut and mouth bacteria profile as I don't think that I have this problem (but I don't drink sugared soft drinks either).
6) With all the cycling that I do I don't need to strictly follow my Atkins diet. But I did go into Ketosis (intentionally) a while back to blast off a couple of holiday pounds. I seemed to pretty consistently generate around a .02 in that case (at the peak only). For me in NC if I were to try to drive in that condition (or even just try to start the car) I would get a warning. And then the device would require a retest every two minutes until it reads zero (even if you did not start the car). And in NC you are stuck in this mode until you can generate a zero reading. Failing that would be a 'violation' (costs $50 in NC and a possible visit to the local DMV court). I can't imagine using this device without the ability to test 'offline', but that is me. BTW in NC you cannot do a test first thing in the morning, see a non-zero reading, and just don't start the car and go back and call a cab. You will have to retest your way back to zero (or get a violation).
7) In NC the methodology "to blow" is simply a (very) loud and strong hum. I mean if you were to do it in a public place all conversation would stop. The test requires both the sound and resulting airflow (other states can have very different methodologies here). My wife has heard me 'blow and succeed' and 'blow and fail' (device says "blow again"). She has never tried it, but it is her opinion that she couldn't do it (mild asthma). Be aware if your the car is to be driven by others. And other states can be very different in this regard, some requiring a sequential "blow and suck" sequence that I would judge to be an iffy kind of thing to do in difficult traffic situations (not as hard in NC).
8) The car repair process is somewhat problematic. If your mechanic (from a "known" auto repair shop) calls some AID provider phone number (only from a landline) they will get a code that will temporarily disable the AID (not all states allow this, BTW). I have made that call a couple of times just to see what a mechanic would experience here. I got through fairly quickly once and waited 15 minutes once. If you have a choice of cars, the one that is less likely to require much service might be the better choice. Or maybe the choice is driven by the patience of the mechanic/shop that works on that car. And this is very state specific. This is not an issue in my case as I won't be driving enough to generate any need for service (hopefully). But in other circumstances I would be doing some advance work regarding this problem, or maybe just planning on 'spending the day' blowing as required (assuming your mechanic will allow you to go back into the shop area). You get 5 minutes to respond to a retest request (and just turning the engine off does not mean that you don't need to execute the retest).
And a few interesting NC quirks. It would appear that installing this device on a car that I (for all practical purposes) cannot drive will fulfill their requirements (as would installing one on my wife's car that I don't drive, assuming that my name was also on the title). And another thing is that if your license is suspended in NC due to a DUI and you are required to install a AID, you will never get a license anywhere in the US until you actually own a car in NC. Their requirement is that the device be installed on a car that you own, and if you never meet this requirement then you will never get your license back, and you will remain a problem on the NDR (forever). I did verify this with the DMV, BTW. Kind of interesting.
