NHTSA proposes black boxes in all new cars by 2014

NHTSA proposes black boxes in all new cars by 2014

The top federal safety agency has proposed requiring automakers to install so-called black boxes in every new vehicle starting September 1, 2014.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 96 percent of MY 2013 vehicles are already equipped with event data recorders (EDRs) that capture safety-related data in the seconds before and during a crash. EDRs record information such as vehicle speed, brake activation before a crash, crash forces at the moment of impact, the state of the engine throttle, timing of air bag deployment and whether the occupants seat belts were buckled.

EDRs provide critical safety information that might not otherwise be available to NHTSA to evaluate what happened during a crash – and what future steps could be taken to save lives and prevent injuries, said NHTSA Administrator David Strickland.

The proposal requires that automakers provide a commercially available tool for copying the data. NHTSA says it will treat EDR data as the property of the vehicle owner and will not access it without the owners consent. But that may not be sufficient for the American Automobile Association.

Congress needs to ensure motorist rights are protected by passing legislation that prohibits access to data without permission from the owner or from a court order, unless the data is used for research purposes and cannot be tracked to a single vehicle, AAA president and CEO Robert Darbelnet said in a statement.