Does our trucks have that black tracking box?

[lisak421]

On NBC Nightly News they said 65% of new vehicles have a built in black box that tracks information about your driving. Speed, braking, wearing your seatbelt and I don't remember what else. They said the federal court ruled today, that if you were to get in an accident, they have a right to check the data on your black box and use it in court as evidence.

 

Do we have these?

[lrymal]

..Do we have these?

 

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Yup---these boxes have been around for a few years, and about every six months, a roaring debate occurs on these boards about it, with the Big Brother view on one side, and it-is-good-for-us on the other side.

 

About my only ancedotal comment on the issue is that about a year ago, a collision occured in which the lady who was at fault claimed the guy she hit was driving too fast. If true, he contributed to the wreck. He claimed he was going the speed limit but was saavy about the black box and demanded it to be read so he could prove his point.

 

A wrecker hoisted his car to a cooperative dealer of sorts, and a bunch of yada yada occured, and finally a court order required his box to be read. Sure enough, he was in the right. And nope, apparently the police are unable to read the box out in the field so creativity is definitely required.

[lisak421]

Thanks for the info Irymal. I guess I just don't like the idea of being "tracked", it just seems one thing after another that the government is doing to watch us. Feel like I'm losing my privacy that's all.

 

This was the first I had heard about this. Have a good night.

[weletchw]

Yes. GM is actually the leader in the field in including "black boxes" in their vehicles. What is known as the "black box" is acutally the unit that controls whether or not the airbag deploys. When GM first started adding airbags to their vehicles in the 90's they added the capability for the unit to save the data. Over time GM and other automakers have been increasing the amount of data measured, whether it is pertinant to airbag deployment or not. The module continuously monitors various vehicle systems. when the vehicles sensors (generally accelerameters that measure G forges) feel that a collision is immenent, the airbag control monitor stores some portion of the previous data to flash memory, which can later be extracted using special software and a cable connected to a laptop computer.

 

While this data can be very useful, both to researchers and victims, it can also be very damaging in court to a culprit, because it can reveal actual speeds, g forces, whether seatbelts are in use, etc, etc. The National Highway Safety Administration is currently attempting to bring various parties together to set minimum standards for what data is recorded, but its up to the courts to determine who it belongs to.

[lisak421]

weletchw, that's a whole bunch of info on this black box, thanks. I can understand where it would be good, but I still feel it's an invasion of my privacy.......guess I hang out with my brother too much, his opinions are wearing off on me.

 

It would be good for an accident I agree, but how much data is stored and for how long? Too bad that thing couldn't tell me what happened to my 02 at the dealership.....now that would be great

[2k4Denali]

To find your blackbox have a look here - they make the Teck 2 also

Crash Data Retrieval System

[lrymal]

...but how much data is stored and for how long? ...

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I am going by memory, but I **think** only a few seconds of data are saved.

[weletchw]

Haha, yeah. I wrote a few papers on OEM and aftermarket EDRs (Electronic Data Recorders) while I was doing research for my Masters Degree in Civil Engineering at NC State. I was really interested in the technical side of things, but along with it certainly comes the legal side of things.

 

Ill have to dig up my old report, but as best that I can remember, the data stored was only about a few seconds, about 5-8 seconds for OEM systems. But when you consider crash impulses are measured in miliseconds, this is quite a bit of data!

 

As far as what data is stored, again Id have to dig up my reaserch for the exact data, but virtually anything that your onboard computer can monitor, the EDR can save, including seatbelt use, throttle position, brake position, engine RPMs.

 

One thing I never came across in an OEM system was the ability to continuously report real-time data. While this certainly seems feasible through ONSTAR, as far as I could tell it does not happen, if only because of the pretty big amounts of cellular bandwidth and storage space needed to track only a few hundred vehicles. The big question is just what happens with and to whom does the data belong after a wreck, where the data can stay in the module of a totaled car infinitely, or downloaded at the scene with an officer with the appropriate equipment.

[lisak421]

Hey Irymal your memory is doing great from what weletchw is saying.

 

I feel better knowing it's not a lot of info, I'm so glad you posted this info welechw. Thanks for sharing all your knowledge, from the sounds of it you must have been a straight A student.

 

Thanks again, I do feel a lot better now.

[weletchw]

Haha, straight A's wouldve been nice!!

 

No problem, like I said I was (am) really interested in them. We will just have to see where the legal issues go!

[lrymal]

HEH, if you wanna see Big Brother.... A friend of mine purchased a GPS receiver that bypasses the hand-held design. Basically, it can hook up directly to a computer and these units are rather small.

 

He hid this on his teen son's car and on an early Saturday morning, retrieved the GPS, hooked it up to his computer, and nailed poor son for where all he had been on Friday night, using the GPS's tracking data log.

 

Now, THAT is Big Brother, or maybe Big Daddy.

[PELICAN]

I was thinking about getting one of the after market brands to put in my truck but I do not always follow the traffic laws to the letter. Some of the after market brands also use GPS so you know where your truck is or has been.

[MS3DALE]

This "black box" is actually the DERM or "Diagnostic Energy Reserve Module" for the air bag system,It is what keeps track of all this stuff,(your speed,seat belt usage,throttle position,etc.)

[MS3DALE]

HEH, if you wanna see Big Brother....  A friend of mine purchased a GPS receiver that bypasses the hand-held design. Basically, it can hook up directly to a computer and these units are rather small.

 

He hid this on his teen son's car and on an early Saturday morning, retrieved the GPS, hooked it up to his computer, and nailed poor son for where all he had been on Friday night, using the GPS's tracking data log.

 

Now, THAT is Big Brother, or maybe Big Daddy.

 

 

 

 

 

Man,I'm glad that wasn't around when I was using dad's car

[lrymal]

....,I'm glad that wasn't around when I was using dad's car

 

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Well, here ya go:

 

http://mightygps.com/oemgps.htm

 

The receiver and data logger:

GPS recorder and vehicle tracking system.