GPS error limited to faults in Japan
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• A satellite navigation fault similar to the millennium bug failed to hamper British hauliers travelling abroad, but motorists in Japan were not so lucky At midnight GMT on Saturday 21 August, hundreds of drivers reported bizarre symbols and other malfunctions on their global positioning systems.
One manufacturer, Pioneer Corp, set up a hotline and received about 600 calls. Callers were directed to the nearest repair shop where their systems were fixed free of charge.
The GPS network rakes on 27 satellites to pinpoint a user's location to within a few metres. The problem occurred in older GPS systems when the timing devices reset to zero after 1,024 weeks. Devices that had not been prepared for the change reverted to 6 January 1980, the date the system started.
Trimble Navigation, an American company which has sold a million GPS systems around the world, said interruption lasted about 15 seconds in its newer systems and 15 minutes in its older ones.