New Jersey Passes New York and Massachusetts in Car Technology -- Telematics Profile Report

ENCINITAS, Calif.--April 28, 2005--New Jersey leads the nation in overall use of in-car telematics, outpacing New York, Massachusetts, California and Texas, according to the recently released Telematics Profile Report from MetaFacts and the Telematics Research Group (TRG).

"New Jersey has embraced technology in their cars across the board," said Dr. Egil Juliussen, TRG's Chief Technology Analyst. "They are near the top because they use about every type of telematics technology."

The surveys also indicate that Massachusetts is number one in Stolen Auto Tracking, Texas is first in use of in-car DVD/VCR systems, California leads the nation in in-car navigation/GPS, New York is number one in hands-free cell phone usage, and Illinois tops all other states in use of monitored telematics.

"It's no surprise that New York leads in the use of hands-free cellphones, because their state safety laws have been in place for some time," said Dan Ness, Principal Analyst with MetaFacts. "It's interesting that Washington is already number two even though the legislation has only recently been enacted. What's surprising is that each state seems to choose just one type of telematics technology as their favorite, highlighting just how different the needs of Americans are from state to state."

          Telematics Technology Usage by Top 15 States: 2004
             Sorted by Overall Telematics Technology Usage
                    Rank as Indexed by Autos-In-Use

                                     Hands-
             Overall                 Free
             Telematics  Monitored   Cell               In-Car  Stolen
             Technology  Telematics  phone  Navigation  DVD/VCR  Auto
State          Usage       Users     Users     Users     Users   Track

New Jersey         1           4       3          4        4       3
New York           2           2       1          7       12       4
Massachusetts      3           7       5          2       10       1
California         4          12       6          1        6       2
Texas              5           6       4          8        1       6
Florida            6          10      10          3        2       5
Missouri           7           9       9          6        3      12
Washington         8           8       2          5       14       9
Michigan           9           3      14         11        8      11
Illinois          10           1      12         10        9      14
Ohio              11           5      15         13       11       7
N. Carolina       12          14      11          9        5       8
Virginia          13          11      13         12        7      10
Georgia           14          13       8         14       15      15
Pennsylvania      15          15       7         15       13      13
Total
 Households
 (#K)           22,540       1,843  17,536      1,927    4,342  2,328


Source: MetaFacts & TRG - Telematics Profile Report - April 2005

The 200+ page Telematics Profile Report is available immediately. More information is available at www.metafacts.com and www.telematicsresearch.com.

The complete Technology User Profile study, on which the Telematics Profile Report is based, provides a detailed profile of how Americans use technology products such as computers, printers, consumables, digital cameras, the Internet, cellular phones, and related services. The most recent edition of the study includes results from 32,150 respondents, making it possible to leverage the service's database for sizing, demographics, segmentation, profiling, analysis, and custom surveying.