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News and Information

MAR
21
2013

Is Your Car Equipped With A “Black Box”?

Several news agencies have reported that new vehicles are equipped with the technology that is popularly known as “black box”.

According to experts, vehicle owners who have purchased new vehicles can be certain that if they are ever involved in an accident, it’s very likely that the details concerning the accident are going to be recorded. Black boxes are built into almost 90% of all new vehicles, according to several reports. New bill would require that 100 percent of all new cars to be fully equipped with the recording system. The mandatory use of “black boxes” would help automakers to develop even safer vehicles in order avoid deaths in the near future. According to certain investigators, sensors underneath your seat and inside the vehicle record every single detail concerning the accident such as the speed, the number of passengers, the handling of the steering.

Moment-by-moment statistics are saved and used later on by detectives and investigators in order to learn more about the accident. With the data collected from the black boxes, which are actually called EDR boxes, investigators and attorneys are able to take details concerning accidents into the court. The presence of these event recorders could help in criminal cases and lawsuits. Developers say that although these are essentially all very important reasons why to add the technology to most vehicles, it may not be the only one. These devices were never developed for investigative purposes, safety advocates say. The EDR was developed in order to increase safety allow for automakers to obtain more info on how they can better their vehicles in order to develop safer cars.

The technology, which is part of the vehicle’s safety system, increases accuracy when it comes to the decision-making process in the event of an accident.

Engineers look into details concerning accidents to learn patters associated with the events to better create systems that track these accidents and decide how well they are working once they are implemented.

Some believe that car owners should have the right to opt out of the use of the system, which could affect the car owner’s insurance premiums.  At this moment, some states are restrictive when it comes to what insurance companies can do with the data black boxes collect. Critics believe that the presence of the black boxes shouldn’t be required by law while safety advocates prefer that 100 percent of all cars are equipped with them.

To learn more about the technology and what black boxes can record, click here for the full article.

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About the Author
The Vachon Law Firm is based in Southern California and focuses exclusively on consumer protection litigation.