Your Vehicle’s Black Box Data—Who Owns It and Who Controls It?

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If you have purchased a new car in the past dozen years or so, it likely includes a slim, electronic device resembling the hard drive on a computer called an EDR (event data recorder), or “black box” as they have come to be referred to. An EDR, according to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA), records technical and occupant information for a few brief seconds before, during and after a crash. An EDR may record information pertaining to:

• Pre-crash vehicle dynamics and system status
• Driver inputs
• Vehicle crash signature
• Restraint usage/ airbag deployment
• Post-crash data such as the activation of an automatic collision notification (ACN) system

Event data recorders are connected to the vehicle’s airbag control system. Advanced EDRs, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), are capable of logging more detailed information such as sideways, forward and rearward acceleration, engine speed, antilock brake activity, side airbag deployment and occupant size and seat track positions for driver and front seat passenger.

EDRs do not, however, record video, audio, or logs of time behind the wheel. These devices are designed simply to record the information relevant to an “event,” such as a highway crash.

Who can access the data on EDRs?

Law enforcement and crash investigators and others can download the data stored in the EDR to help explain how the vehicle’s safety systems performed during a crash. The data in an EDR can help contribute to determining culpability in a crash investigation. In order to extract the information from an EDR, a person would have to have access to a Bosch crash data retrieval (CDR) kit, which vehicle dealer service centers have access to.

Ownership of EDR data

By now, if you were unaware of the fact that your vehicle has a “black box,” you might be wondering who owns this data, and how you can make sure that this data is kept private.

You own the data in your vehicle’s EDR, however, it is of little use to you because you are not likely to know how to access it, or make use of the information it contains. But there are those who want to be able to have access to the information on your vehicle’s black box–the automaker who wants to check on the vehicle’s performance and safety, law enforcement and insurance companies and crash reconstruction specialists looking to prove liability.

In November 2015, the NHTSA met with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a group that proposed that NHTSA require a lockout system that would allow vehicle owners to prevent unauthorized access to EDRs and the OBD-II connector.

The federal Driver Privacy Act of 2015 was enacted in December 2015. This law places restrictions on data retrieval from EDRs and it assigns ownership of the data to the owner or lessee of the vehicle. In the state of Delaware, under Delaware Code § 3918, EDR data may be accessed with policyholder’s consent. This applies only to private passenger vehicles and individual policy holders.

If you have questions about the use of the data from your vehicle’s EDR system, or if you have been injured in a car accident caused by the negligence of another driver, you can speak with a Delaware auto accident attorney from Silverman, McDonald & Friedman about your case.

You are welcome to call us at 302.414.5553 or fill out our quick contact web form to learn more about our legal services and to schedule a free consultation with an auto accident lawyer who will answer your questions and offer legal guidance specific to your case. At Silverman, McDonald & Friedman, we proudly serve clients throughout Delaware from our offices in Newark, Seaford and Wilmington, and we are ready to help you today.