NHTSA Passes EDR (Black Box) Regulation

On August 21, 2006, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) passed a regulation requiring car makers to inform customers if the car contains an Event Data Recorder (EDR). According to Wikipedia

An Event Data Recorder or EDR, is a device installed in some automobiles used to record information related to accidents. These devices can be collected after a crash to help authorities determine what the vehicles were doing before, during, and after the accident. The term generally refers to a simple, tamper-proof, read-write memory device, similar to the black box found on airplanes, rather than the tape recorders and video cameras common in police vehicles and many commercial trucks.

Unlike airplane “black boxes”, voices are not recorded, but instead “speed, steering wheel movement, how hard the brakes are being pressed and the actual movement of the car itself.” If you have a newer vehicle it probably has an EDR. According to NHTSA, about 64 percent of 2005 vehicles were equipped with EDRs. You can use this is a list of vehicles equipped with crash data recorders to double check for model years 1994 through 2006.

According to a CNNMoney article the new NHTSA rule requires that all EDRs record a uniform set of data and consumers must be told if their vehicle does contain a “black box”.

Data from the recorders is used by law enforcement and attorneys to recreate events directly leading up to an accident. Data is also used by car companies to research how cars and drivers perform in actual crashes.

Some privacy advocates have expressed concern that the data, which can be used as evidence in court cases, is being collected without the knowledge of vehicle owners and drivers.

The devices are virtually impossible to disable because their functioning is so tightly integrated with vehicle safety systems such as airbags and anti-lock brakes.