Faulty InReach Devices Place Users and SAR Teams at Risk

April 11, 2018

Clifton A. Premble, President and CEO
GARMIN International
1200 E 151st Street
Olathe, Kansas 669620-3426

RE: Malfunction of InReach SE SOS Button

Dear Mr. Premble,

We are writing to you as group of experienced wilderness adventurers and explorers to express our concerns about the malfunction of InReach SE devices. This malfunction results in inadvertent and unwarranted SOS messages to be sent from the devices, triggering unnecessary search and rescue missions.

The basic problem is that the SOS button can be activated with the device in the locked and powered-off positions. If the SOS button is placed under even modest pressure while stowed in a pack or in luggage, the SOS button is activated. With only one exception, all of the InReach SE devices that we have inspected exhibit this problem.

This is not simply an inconvenience. Because of this faulty SOS button, unrequested and unnecessary rescue missions have been summoned in eleven instances that we are aware of, and we have to assume there are many more stories from around the world. The cases that we are aware of include:

o An unsought rescue from the Russian military for a kayaking party in Kamchatka;

o A helicopter deploy from the North Slope Borough SAR team during the Alaska Wilderness Classic;

o A Coast Guard visit to a research vessel in the Gulf of Alaska;

o A Civil Air Patrol pursuit of a paraglider in Alaska;

o International incidents in Antarctica resulting from faulty SOS signals from InReach devices used for tracking ice sheet movements.

All of these incidents resulted from the inadvertent triggering of the SOS button while the InReach device was stored in a pack or bag, in the locked and/or powered off position. Without a protective case it is very difficult to store the InReach SE in such a way as to ensure that the SOS button is not activated.

We have repeatedly brought this issue to the attention of Garmin but have not seen or experienced any acknowledgement of this serious problem. Some of us have even experienced abusive customer service blaming the SOS malfunction on user error.

The InReach device is an important safety device that is widely acknowledged to provide great benefit to users and rescue teams. However, the severity of the current situation is such that
Garmin International needs to step up and do the honorable thing here. These units present a significant risk to users and rescuers. Having a faulty device on the market that has already resulted in unsought rescues is a serious liability. We ask that you provide a product recall for the InReach SE, or at the very least, notify all InReach SE owners of this design flaw.


Sincerely,

Brad Meiklejohn, Alaska State Director/The Conservation Fund
Luc Mehl, international explorer and renowned adventurer
Tobias Schwoerer, PhD, Institute for Social and Economic Research
Roman Dial, PhD, Founder of the Alaska Wilderness Classic
Andrew Skurka, National Geographic Explorer of the Year