Source: Black boxes in cars raise privacy concerns - SFGate These have been standard in many Toyota cars including the Prius and were critical to the 'runaway Prius' accident investigations. Of the crashes investigated, about a third had data and all of them showed the brake had not been applied. But these are not found in all makes and models. By coming up with standards including how to access the data, a lot of lawsuits will never see the inside of a court room. The more interesting aspect would be if the recorded data could be accessed by traffic enforcement. Bob Wilson
Hello big brother. It has it's good, but also has very bad potentials too. The part about traffic enforcement is key. It stands about the same as micro chipping your children. While it has good potential written all over it, their are side effects that can encroach on your privacy and security. Then again, if you know you have a black box recording your every move, maybe you would be less likely to be stupid....then again, maybe not. Hmmm, gives pause for thought
Will the Lt Governer of Mass be fired for being a GD liar? Of course not. The concept of an Integrity & character compass with no pointer is the new norm ... pizazz & snappy talking points, and quick ability to blame our ills on 'the other party' - that's what really counts.
One insurance company I looked at offers a substantial discount for allowing Thier own black box thingy in your car. They base your rates from how you drive. One of the things they say it records is "hard braking".
Snapshot, Snapshot Discount: Pay As You Drive® (PAYD) – Progressive It records if you drive over 40 miles a day (every day, for me) so is worthless in my case. It also uses the ODB II port I have my scangauge plugged into.
I had seen the ads but your link gave me more insights. I've long wanted a similar device to record Prius metrics. Right now I have two options: AutoEnginuity and Graham miniscanner but then my interest has always been in the engineering aspects. What would be interesting is to see the data from: Consumer Reports (CR) testing - unlike the EPA protocols, they have yet to publish the details needed to replicate their results. Given the abysmal CR reported Prius mileage compared to the EPA and driver reports, it would be a sad day if the EPA used CR to trigger investigations. I have no problem if the EPA staff use owner reported mileage to find vehicles with a significant divergence from the EPA metrics. But CR, Motor Trend, and half a dozen other magazines represent the lead-footed, stomping brakes, and tire-skidding crowd . . . not a reliable source. Still, a similar, data recording system might make a 'training aid' for those who like Jeremy Clarkson believe 'it is how you drive that determines fuel efficiency. Bob Wilson
Progressive Ins ... at least that's one of the Co's Insurance commercials that I've seen : Progressive's Black Box: Is Big Brother Good for the Industry' From the date on that article it seems like some states have been considering black boxes for quite some time. SGH-I717R ? 2
I believe my mom's cavalier (2000ish model) had one in it. They were able to access some of the data from her fatal car accident, IIRC, and if memory serves (which, during that time a lot of things have been forgotten on my end), the vehicle was launched from 0 - 40 MPH from the impact. I may be mistaken, though. I have to agree with the earlier post that they do have a very large potential for good, but also very real concerns for being used inappropriately. I am all for using them, with specific guidelines and strict requirements, when investigating accidents. In this area, I think they are by far the best for providing data in the instances immediately prior and following an accident. I've seen those same Progressive ads on TV, but anytime I've comparison shopped them they were so insanely high to start with that I could only laugh. They are, however, very reasonable compared to other ins cos for motorcycle insurance for me.
Now I am curious, do you want different 'standards' in each state? Every vender have their own plug and measured data? Or, going the other way, were you hoping the UN made a worldwide standard? Or were you saying there should be a standard but poor people don't get safer cars only the rich, so they should be optional on top of the line models? Help me on this, as I am not finding a answer I like.
Seat belts, airbags, Im ok with, but something that can be abused like this, not too keen on. Just like mandating back up cams, there are better forms of alerting to things behind a vehicle other than a backup cam. While they are nice to see right behind you, without the Cross Traffic Alert that is on my Fords, if you are looking at your dash, you wont see the people or cars coming from the side. If they mandated the CTA that Ford uses, then I could agree to that. Backup cams can only see what is directly behind you, but the rear sensors can pick out things you cant see and alert you. It would also be less costly to add rear sensors than a back up cam. BTW what does a black box have to do with rich or poor people anyway?
When those back up cameras came out what cars got them first? Hint: It was not the Chevy Cobalt and the Kia Rio, it was rich folks cars. Without a Federal Mandate, this armored USB drive will only be in rich folks cars. The real 'safety' aspect I see in a Black Box is helping prove a defect in manufacture, and those recalls need to effect all cars, not just the rich. Toyota used the Prius Black Box to prove the 'unintended' acceleration was always a driver issue, but if the data had indicated a vendor problem, you can bet a recall would have been prompt!
+1 That is one of the real aspects. The price for a black box is low, much lower than some other mandated items. Because bad cars can be dangerous, there should be monitoring available to the car owner - not the insurance company - to see if the car is defective. That mandated back up camera, to me that is big government, along with the hybrid beep. I think people should be able to choose to have that or not. True, but they had refused to read black boxes in many lawsuits in the past. This shamed them into actually reading them in a few driver error run away acceleration issues. If there was not a huge back lash against toyota refusing to read these things, then I don't think they would have. The germans after the audi fiasco have all had black boxes in their cars.
Now if we just get: true diagnostic display - the real codes and engineering data similar to a Techstream-lite USB interface to read out the trip record and diagnostic data Suddenly everyone benefits. Bob Wilson
You need one more bullet point here: Owner of the vehicle is owner of the data - anyone else needs a warrant. Otherwise a whole host of pests will lay claim to it.
