According to a series of news agencies, multiple outlets have been covering NHTSA’s new call for the presence of “black boxes” in all new vehicles.

What some may not be aware of is that certain details being published may not be as alarming as some may have made it seem. According to specialists, the federal agency National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been calling for the mandatory implementation of black boxes since 2006, which was when the NHTSA developed rules on vehicles that would be equipped with EDRs and how these devices were supposed to operate.

The only new information revealed by the federal agency regarded the time this rule would be put into effect. The federal agency stated that the mandatory equipment use would be mandatory by 2014.

What most news agencies haven’t reported is that the White House didn’t give the NHTSA a carte blanche to implement the new mandatory regulation.

The proposal regarding the presence of event data recorders hasn’t been approved yet since this regulation plan must still be be reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget to ensure the regulation won’t conflict with the work of other agencies, which could generate a burden for the budget.

Since the proposal is still being studied, full details regarding the implementation of the new mandatory regulation are not available yet.

For more on some of the myths associated with the proposal, click here to read more.