I saw this in another post but did not want to hijack it...does anyone know about this... can I have it disabled or removed..

I have the link below, but not sure its working, but it says how a driver was arrested after police had a court order to read the "Black Box" of his Vette... due to the speed he was charged with MV homicide..based on the results the police got from the recorder..


http://www.newsday.com/other/educati...,2264948.story


I wonder if a dealership can look into your black box, and say No warranty you were at a drag strip... it would show the acceleration etc..

But I could be wrong as the maybe the black box only records the last 30 sec.. or maybe a short amount of time...

Would it KEEP the highest speed recorded.. say I went 150 mph, 3 days ago would it retain the TOP speed attained of 150 mph ?

 

Link didn't work but I heard a few of those stories. IMO the people deserved it since most were street racing or driving at extremely high speeds.

I don't know about the Corvette's black box but I heard these usually only record the last few seconds before impact. I know the Lotus one records just about everything you do with the car though, even how long you drive at each RPM, how fast, how many quick accels, etc.

 

I Race at the drag strip...and was wondering suppose I blew a transmission at the track.. & I had it towed to a dealership...could they look at the box an see the trans blew at 100mph...?as that would be the last 30 sec before I could stop on the race track?

 

i know the airbag system computer (that may be the black box your refering to) keeps like the last 15-20 seconds data in it. I believe its more for crash data obviously. On an impact it would store it. Dont know if it goes back farther then that or not? If you werent in an accident i dont know what info the dealer could get to nail you on? paul

 

1. It only stores the most recent deployment of the airbags.
2. It's been in Corvettes for the last 12-15 years.
3. It takes a court order to read it.
4. I'm pretty sure the dealer doesn't have anything that will read it.

 

From the owners manual..

Event Data Recorders
This vehicle has an Event Data Recorder (EDR). The
main purpose of an EDR is to record, in certain crash or
near crash-like situations, such as an air bag
deployment or hitting a road obstacle, data that will
assist in understanding how a vehicle’s systems
performed. The EDR is designed to record data related
to vehicle dynamics and safety systems for a short
period of time, typically 30 seconds or less. The EDR in
this vehicle is designed to record such data as:
• How various systems in your vehicle were operating
• Whether or not the driver and passenger safety
belts were buckled/fastened
• How far, if at all, the driver was pressing the
accelerator and/or brake pedal
• How fast the vehicle was traveling
This data can help provide a better understanding of the
circumstances in which crashes and injuries occur.
Important: EDR data is recorded by your vehicle only
if a non-trivial crash situation occurs; no data is
recorded by the EDR under normal driving conditions
and no personal data (e.g., name, gender, age,
and crash location) is recorded. However, other parties,
such as law enforcement, could combine the EDR
data with the type of personally identifying data routinely
acquired during a crash investigation.
To read data recorded by an EDR, special equipment is
required, and access to the vehicle or the EDR is
needed. In addition to the vehicle manufacturer, other
parties, such as law enforcement, that have the special
equipment, can read the information if they have
access to the vehicle or the EDR.

 

I work as an insurance investigator. The black box information is readily available even without an impact. The car's computer system retains information derived from accelerometer data collected by an internal digital accelerometer, the information stored also concerns the throttle position indicator, the transmission position and gear.

There is probably other information available, but I can't recall the entire inventory.

The information needs a special program to extract it, but it can be accessed. The information remains in the system for a set amount of ignition cycles.

The information can be obtained with the owner's permission or by subpoena if the vehicle is involved in an accident or the information is needed for a criminal investigation.

It is not a common procedure to obtain the information and the dealer in many cases can access the information without the owner's permission. Originally the information was not considered owned by the vehicle owner and was considered the property of the manufacturer.

 

To answer the one question that I don't think has been answered. The EDR (Event Data Recorder) or "black box" for purposes of this thread, is part of the SDM (Sensing and Deployment Module) that is the main component and brain trust behind the airbag deployment system. It cannot be removed without removing the airbag system and sensors. It's also not "black" it's silver. You can see it in this photograph. It is located in the center console just behind the ashtray.

 

It would be nice to know if you could disable the "recorder" portion of the component and not the "airbag " portion of it. I was unable to find anything in the wiring diagram manual for just those specifics.

 

Talon has it right. To put it in simple terms: It does not store data like RPM, speed, steering angle and stuff like that unless there is a crash or near crash. The info keeps being written over by newer data if no crash happens. When the crash or near crash happens (like a violent swerve to miss an animal in the road) the module will store the last 15-20 seconds in case of an investigation. After a few ignition cycles, that info is overwritten if the airbags did not deploy. Basically it covers GM's *** in the event a person says, "my brakes did not work" or " I was wearing my seat belt". The module knows all of this and more and can be used to dispute those claims or investigate the events leading up to a crash.

In terms of the dealer reading it. That is very unlikely and will almost never happen. It is not readable with a Tech II and needs special software to read. However, the PCM will also store quick snap shots of data when a check engine light comes on. We can see RPM, speed, gear, TPS angle and a few other bits of info that will tell us what happened at the time of the light coming on. So if you hold your car at the rev limiter and it causes an issue where the SES light comes on, we can tell the car was held at 100% throttle at 6,500 RPM and so on. Another move for GM to cover their *** on a warranty issue and rightfully so.

 

There is no reason to do so unless you are lying about what happened in an accident. It is not going to be used for big brother to deny a warranty claim..... We have other ways of doing that.

 

If in fact this information can be accessed without my consent, it is plain and simple a violation of the fourth amendment-Searches and seizures. Yet another erosion of our constitutional rights.

 

 

I wonder if it would be possible to open the box and remove or destroy the memory and still retain the airbag function.

 

With a court order your consent would not be needed

 

Lying about the cause of an accident would also be against the law, so if you have nothing to hide, what is the big deal? Kind of a "do as I say, but not as I do" kinda thing or what?

The court is the only one that will force the info to be used for or against you in the event of an accident investigation.

 

It is only seized in felony cases. Many times it is the result of a fatality crash or serious injury crash involving an intoxicated driver. This box is seized and a judge has to sign a warrant for LE to read it. The information is then downloaded and turned in as evidence.

It can help clear the driver or convict him/her.

 

I heard about this from a friend of mine but didn't believe him at all. I just said yea right.
Now reading this wow it's all true and just what he said. This is kinda scary but a good thing I guess.

We started talking about this because I was telling him about a major miss-hap I almost had. He went on to tell me, " you know the insurance Co. wouldn't cover your car if they read your black box if you crashed."

I just said, " There wouldn't have been anything left for them to cover ." ( It was that close)

I've learned my lesson, not to push my limit and speed around Just drive around and enjoy you Vette, it just takes a second to make a mistake.

DON'T DO IT....... TAKE IT FROM ME. Thank God I'm okay and fine.

 

I'm a retired PO and know that the PD or investigating Dept. CAN get access to the black box..

My son was killed in 1996.. He was driving a 1995 Camaro, there were no other cars or passengers in his car.

We had a rather large life insurance policy on him, however it CLEARLY stated that they it would NOT pay if he had been drinking, Drugs, or racing or involved in any type of speed contest!

His blood came back clean no drugs or alcohol!

(The accident happened at 2 AM) he was on his way home from his girlfriends..

I also went to Northwestern University "Accident Reconstruction" It is much more detailed than accident investigation...

From my experience I "KNOW" he we traveling well in excess of 120 mph.. he lost it on a slight bend on the highway and hit a large tree...


There was absolutely nothing left of the car..

My only consolation is he never felt any pain!

However the Troopers who did the investigation knew me (from the job) and I asked about the black box back then (1996) they sorta blew me off.. I later found out "What people & Insurance Co. DON'T know wont hurt).. they basically told me he was the only car involved, no witnesses.. and from their "Experience "SOME" speed "MAY have been involved..

They could have opened the box and found all kinds of bad stuff.. i.e. the gas was floored at impact, or he never hit the breaks, or the speed was 134 mph... ??etc... etc...

I think they (The Troopers) were doing me a favor by NOT going TOO DEEP into that accident.. as he was NOT DRINKING or on DRUGS... and he was the only car involved...

Yes we received a large insurance cheek, but I'm sure all of you know I'd give it back with interest to have my son back....

He was 22 and just gotten his Electricians license, started his own business... etc.. and was on the way home from his girl friend.

and yes I asked her if they had an argument.. she said no... I do know my wife used to be on his Azzz about getting home early to be up for work... Was he speeding to get home, or did he really have an argument... and was pizzed off ..God only knows.. and maybe, just maybe I'd know more if the black box was opened...something that I'd rather NOT have known....

Then again I may have found out something I didn't want to hear..

I'll never know....

 

I'am so so sorry for your loss. I have two kids 15 yrs and 17 yrs, and worry like crazy when the 17 yr old drives anywhere.

We do our best to love and raise them, guide them and always hope for the best. Too bad we can't be there all the time.

Your son is being looked after now by God and his Angels.