Accident! Can I get to the black box data?

It's easy. If your huband hit the car infront of him first, the air bag would of deployed by judging from the damage. Just follow the logic from there.

 

If he was so observant to see your husband hit the truck, then he should have been able to stop before rear ending the Prius.

Good luck sorting it all out and let us know if the black box is used to validate you defense.

 

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There are a few factors that govern the deployment of the airbags. I think the Prius uses the two stage system. And, with use of the speed sensor will determine how forcefully the bags deploy. With that in mind if you are under a set speed and set force the bags will not deploy.

Tell the ins. co the bags did not fire off.. I had to be under , oh lets say 5 mph, and there for
1. the breaks lights were on.
2. by way of me only doing 5 mph the break lights have been on for quite some time.
3. I had stopped like your client states then there would have been more damage .
4. because I was stopped the force of your client hiting me caused the front of my car to dip down and go under the 4x4 in front of me.. (that is if this was not "Big Foot" and the bumper was 3 foot off the road)

Just thinking.

 

I don't think your insurance company would roll over easily. Even if it was truely a case of his word against your husband's, your case is strong.

The other driver wasn't in a position to see the front of your car, because at the same time he was plowing into the back of your car at 15+ MPH.

Usually a rear end case is 95%+ the fault of the rear driver. Only in the event that the front car then hits something is the issue complicated. It is not unusual for the forward driver to be held partially liable for hitting the driver in front of him due to insufficient spacing. I think it is BS, but it is reality.

Anyway, good luck. I hope you don't have to shoulder any liability, but chances are, it will end up costing you something. Thank your state legislature if you are a no-fault state.

 

Christie,

So sorry to hear about your prius I was backed into by a guy in VA earlier this year and messed up the front end pretty well (but nothing like yours.) The only good news I have, if your car is repairable, is that parts were relatively inexpensive. I couldn't find any local "Toyota" body shops, so I had a local body shop up here in Mount Airy do the work. When the time comes and you get estimates for parts, if you want to see my estimate to crosscheck cost, just private message me.

As far as the accident goes, did MSP cite anyone? Did you get a copy of the accident report from them? There is a form you can fill out to request a copy of the official investigation (if there is one.) From www.mdsp.org

" Accident Reports
You may obtain a copy of an accident report in two ways:
(1) You may pick up a copy of the report in person at the Barrack that completed the report ten days after the date of the accident. It is recommended that you call the Barrack prior to coming to the Barrack so a copy of the report may be prepared before you arrive. When you come to the Barrack, you must bring a check or money order (no cash) for $4.00 made out to "Maryland State Police".

(2) You may download a Maryland Motor Vehicle Accident Report Request Form by clicking here ; then complete it and mail it and a check for $4.00 to the address on the form. A copy of the report will be mailed to you. Requests for copies of Motor Vehicle Accident Reports should not be submitted until more than twenty days have elapsed since the date of the accident. This will give the Central Records Division (CRD) sufficient time to receive and process reports. Requests received before the reports have reached this Division may be returned to the sender. The Central Records Division does not maintain in repository reports/photographs of traffic accidents that occurred in the City of Baltimore, therefore, please contact the Central Records Division, Baltimore Police Department, at (410) 396-2359."

Form at http://www.mdsp.org/downloads/CRDform30_12.pdf

Once again, sorry about the accident.

Rick

 

I don't really think there is a "black box" as some say, though I believe the airbag system will retain some data upon deployment. Since it didn't deploy, no DTCs were set to record any freezframe data.

Even if there were data recorded, it wouldn't prove who stopped first. Just because you hit your brakes doesn't mean you didn't hit the vehicle in front of you first. Even seeing 0 motion in the wheels woundn't show if the 0 motion was because the vehicle in front of you stopped you, or you were already stopped before hitting the vehicle.

No, speed has nothing to do with airbag deployment, other than reducing the deceleration to the point of being below the threshold of activation. My friend's daughter hit the side of the garage (cement block construction) at a low speed, and it did deploy the airbags. Houses don't move too easily. By the way, no-one was seriously hurt, house is fine. Windshield was cracked due to the airbag deployment, and bumper slightly damaged but was easily repaired.

 

As far as I know all Toyota's have the 'Black Box' data recorder. I think all GM products have them now too

NHTSA and the NTSB want them to be required by 2009, but many manufacturers are already putting them in.

Generally it takes a subpeona to get the data. Law Enforcement will do it in criminal cases (Vehicular Homicide, etc), and Insurance Companies will do it when the cost of litigation is warranted compared to the cost of settling up and moving on.

I presume you could do it in a civil suit, but I doubt it would be cheap.

You can look around the web for all the privacy discussions on the recorders, so it's not a sure thing they're going to be mandated.

For example, would Auto Manufacturers be allowed to read the boxes during service and void warrantees?

However, last fall IEEE approved the first official MVDR (Motor Vehicle Data Recorder) Standard.

You can google that up too if you want, but it has 86 specified data elements and covers survivability requirements.

 

I'd like to understand how any black box information would clear him? What data would you expect to see that would show he stopped before impact? If the airbags deployed, then yes, you could see that wheel motion was zero several seconds before deployment, but otherwise, how?

And I still have not seen anything other than speculation that there is a black box. Only freezframe data, captured during the setting of a DTC is known to be captured. The service manual states this, so that is not speculation. And even that data is very limited, telling what was going on at the moment the DTC occured.

 

The Black Box gives second by second speed, acceleration/deceleration, and Brake Status.

That's plenty to determine what happened in this case.

1) Car Slows under braking to normal stop.

2) Car accelerates forward rapidly with brakes applied, then comes to rapid stop.

Case Closed.

 

Here's doc on the fact that Toyotas have them.

I was wrong though, not ALL Toyotas do, but the Priuses (even the 04s) absolutely do.

http://www.thecarconnection.com/index.asp?article=7386

"Toyota reports that all its '05 models except Scion xA and xB, Lexus IS300, Tacoma, Tundra, and GX470 have EDRs. These black boxes are mounted under the seat, behind the center console or in the instrument panel, varying from one vehicle to another."

 

A accident scene examiner can tell what happed by looking at the damage. The amount of damage to the front of Prius would show how much force was applied to the rear of the car. If the car has Zero speed and momentum the smart airbags will not deploy if pushed into the other vehicle as the passengers may be harmed more by the exploding air bag.

TODO!.
Get a good Lawyer. Have him contact the lier and tell him to be prepared to goto court. They will know what to do.

Fight any ticket issued.

I had a problem with a woman who pulled her emergency brake at 40 mph and slid into the right lane forcing me to rear end her. She blamed me until the lawyer contacted her. She sang like a jay bird.

Good Luck.

 

Damage can easily be misleading. Often I have been rearended and I get all the damage, like the last one that prompted me to get a Prius. though once I rearended someone else, thinking he was passing but he was actually stopping. I scratched his bumper, but I got some front end damage.

Neither of these was in the Prius though.
For the first one, I had a Saturn SL2, he had a 2004 Camry. The other one I hit a Mustang, I had a Nissan Sentra.

 

Article doesn't even mention Toyota. It correctly states most cars have SOME SORT of EDR. Prius has freezeframe set during DTCs. That could be said to be some sort of EDR.

 

What article doesn't mention Toyota? The one I posted?

I suggest re-reading if you're referring to this article.

http://www.thecarconnection.com/index.asp?article=7386

I quoted the relevant passage.