Does Your Vehicle Have An ' Event Data Recorder' On Board?

KOTV News (Tulsa) ^ | Feb. 4, 2005 | Lori Fullbright

[_Jim]

I'll rant when, and where necessary, thank you.

[RetroWarrior]

Your welcome.

[DTogo]

"We're no longer a country that's as free as it once was. We're more of a police state every day."

Words from someone with something to hide.

[WKB]

Maybe all of 'em didn't go to public school!

[AZ_Cowboy]

Maybe George Jones knew something before we all did. They don't have them on Lawn Mowers yet, do they?

[oceanview]

yes, but you can't just unplug the thing. either the car will not run, or the airbag lights will be permanently lit, or some sensor will go nuts, etc.

[Pylon]

Now if you get a speeding ticket or a ticket for running a light and you were not speeding or did stop, can you use that data for your defense?

[PAR35]

I say take a hammer to it since you own it with the car.

And the prosecutor or plaintiff's attorney will argue to the jury that you planned to drive in a reckless manner and were trying to cover up. If you did decided to take the stand, they would argue that your testimony is not credible, because you wanted to hide the true, objective evidence which would be in the courtroom but for your actions.

[jiggyboy]

I'm no legal eagle, but I'd say it's along the lines of it being an "objective witness". You didn't commit the information to a secondary party yourself as if you were describing it to someone else in a bar. (BTW, that is something for the legal eagles -- why can your diary be admitted as a matter of course as evidence against you?)

[garyhope]

Is there a list of years and cars that the black boxes installed in them? Where are the boxes located and how do you disable them?

[BobS]

"I say take a hammer to it since you own it with the car. Until they pass a law stating that it's Govt. Property then....IMO of course."

Put the hammer away. You don't need that much misuse of energy. Get some more delicate tools. Gently pry the cover off and unsolder the offending wire and cut the soldered section off where the exposed wire ends. Use a solder sucker or braid to collect what is left. Put cover back on and go your merry way down those empty highways.

OH, I FORGOT- disconnect the + terminal from your battery and put a baggie over it. Everything must be done in a ground plane.

[Jagman]

That's right, and the latest trend in automotive electronics is a shift away from "add a feature, add a box" strategies toward electronics integration (think Boeing 777). When this happens, you won't even be able to find the ECUs that are recording everything. Buy a pre-1990's vehicle if you tend to drive drunk.

[jiggyboy]

Actually, I do have some knowledge of the computer end of this (more than the legalities as in my earlier post). It's really only a ten-minute job to hook up the easily-availble cable to the computer and copy the information from your car to whatever they want to store it in.

[oceanview]

its all of them now - all modern cars have them.

[IllumiNaughtyByNature]

I love the stuff you "B" personality's come with sometimes. My first reaction was the hammer, but i like your idea better.

[Happygal]

I have terrible gallows humour.

But your post just made me laugh.

[oceanview]

that's true, so you can imagine the police having these devices in the future and doing a data download as a normal part of any traffic accident. and memory is so cheap now, that's its not just the past few seconds it will store, it could be your entire driving record for the past week or month.

[Rennes Templar]

See link at end of article.

[southronbtgoG]

Think this way,,,A black box records , that all it does..It does not make the vehicle run...After that is something else..............Southron And Proud Of It...............

[southronbtgoG]

Think this way,,,A black box records , that all it does..It does not make the vehicle run...After that is something else..............Southron And Proud Of It...............