Ford, GM, Honda and Toyota Spy on Motorists
George Orwell's novel "1984" foretold of a society where government tracks every person. But even he might never have imagined that cars could be used to spy on individuals.
Most people don't realize that day has arrived.
According to the Christian Science Monitor, 30 million vehicles manufactured by Ford, GM, Honda and Toyota include a "black box" that records a plethora of information.
The "Event Data Recorder," or EDR, at one time recorded only basic information such as whether an airbag deployed during an accident and whether drivers wore seat belts.
But, says the paper, now many of the devices are recording the last several seconds data before an accident. That includes how fast the vehicle was traveling, whether or not drivers applied the brake, and engine speed.
Some of this data has already been used to convict drivers of criminal acts such as murder and manslaughter.
"The main purpose of the EDR is to get data after a crash to help us understand how the airbags worked," said Alan Adler, manager of product-safety communications at General Motors in Warren, Mich.
Though he says GM customers' privacy is "very important to us," he goes on to rationalize that the device "doesn't record anything that isn't true."
That's not the point, critics say.
"This is another example of where technology has outstripped the law and certain assumptions of how the world works," Jay Stanley of American Civil Liberties Union told the Monitor.
There is no regulation regarding the amount of data that can be tracked, stored and turned over to authorities, he said.
"If GM decided tomorrow to track three months of data instead of five seconds, there's nothing that would make them have to tell anybody," Stanley said.
Now even insurance companies are getting into the mix.
The left-wing company Progressive Insurance, a heavy donor to Democrats, is managing "TripSense," a pilot program using 5,000 drivers in Minnesota to market a device that records up to six months of driving habits.
Progressive says drivers can decide whether or not they want to hand over that data to insurance companies.
Other companies are marketing similar devices they say are designed to allow parents to monitor a teen-ager's driving habits.
In the end, however, the concern is that information will be eventually used — whether by insurance companies, police or some government agency — to further control citizens.
If a cop were to pull over a driver while he's not speeding, for example, "will your EDR tell him that five miles or five days earlier you were?" AutoWeek magazine's Bob Gritzinger wrote.

 

No it only tells the last few seconds and I don't remember how many.

 

yeh .. knew about hte blackbox. persoanlly i would have yanked it had it not been tied into the airbags.

as far as the other crap goes, **ck that. I enjoy what i do in my car and what i do in my car is nobody elses business.

 

The EDR could be used in your favor as well. If you were in an accident that was not your fault. Every one always assumes the Corvette driver was speeding. This way there would be proof. But, I still don't like the idea of them in the cars. Could the dealer look up your driving habits at the point of an engine failure?

 

This has been beaten to death numerous times over and over. Every few months this exact topic is posted.

The black box can be your best friend or worst enemy it is all up to you depending on how you want to drive.

 

I really doubt that any of the info on "black boxes" would ever be used in court to convict anybody of anything the way things are going around here.

Just 2 weeks ago, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled that a parent had no right to listen in on their own teenager's conversation. Long story short: Kids talking about committing a crime, parent overheard, crime committed, parents tip off police, kids arrested, case dismissed because of "illegal eavesdropping."

Go figure.

 

I think it is a good thing

 

It already has been used in court to convict

 

Whoa...didn't know that. Where?

 

This subject has been discussed to death. It only records the last 5-10 seconds of engine operating data such as rpm, speed, throttle position, brakes applied (yes/no), air bags, etc. If you shut off the engine without triggering the system via an accident, the chip erases itself. If you have an air bag deployment or a near deployment, the SDM (sensing and diagnostic module...black box....that is really silver with a yellow sticker), freezes the last 5-10 seconds of data.
This data take specialized software to download, interpret and read. It was primarily designed for engineering specs, but it can be used by GM legal for those cases where someone swears the cars accelerated by itself, and the data shows the brakes were never applied and the throttle was at 100 percent.
Or, in the case of the kids who tells daddy, the lower control arm broke causing him to have the accident, and GM should be sued; however, the data shows the kid was doing 50, never hit the brake but hit the curb can help GM (and other manufacturers) from paying out frivolous claims to jerks. Thus, keeping the cost of the car less expensive.
I would say if it ever comes to the point where a COP can download the info and give you a ticket due to the information received, would be the time I would rig some type of device to destroy the box at the push of a button. Phosphorous might work good.

 

FL, I believe, last year; guy was doing over 114 mph when he hit a kid. It has also been used in civil court many times by GM to prove the car was not at fault, the driver was at fault.
Attorney's and LE agencies can obtain the expensive software, and many have, and many use it for not only civil matters, but also criminal matters. However, I do not see in the future law enforcment officials driving around with the software, and pulling you over to read your data. Probably cause would be one deterrent, the other would be time.

As for boxes for kids. If I had never trusted my kids, they would never have received their license or the right to drive a car until they became adults.

 

I'm with you on this one. Let it go............let it go.

 

Wait a minute. I thought the ACLU was the left side of "the left wing".
Don't worry guys, the right wing has done enough to "protect you" since 9-11 too. Who was it that said "Those who would give up their freedoms for security deserve neither."?

 

Might as well get used to it since I doubt it will go away anytime soon.