
By Taylor Soper and Alan Boyle
Zonar Systems, a Seattle-based company that provides electronic fleet inspection and tracking systems for public and private fleets, today experienced a firmware glitch that affected a significant number of its mobile inspection devices.
Ben Hohmann, a Zonar spokesperson, confirmed the glitch and said the company is working to fix it. The issue is affecting Zonar’s 2010 Electronic Inspection Device, which is used primarily for school bus safety inspections.
Hohmann described the device as Zonar’s “legacy product.” The 2010 devices made their debut more than a decade ago. They’re equipped with Zonar’s Electronic Verified Inspection Reporting software, which uses RFID technology to verify that school buses and other types of equipment are thoroughly inspected.
Although the glitch cropped up suspiciously close to the start of the 2020s, Hohmann said this isn’t a rerun of the Y2K date turnover issue, which sparked worldwide concerns about potential software failures in 1999-2000.