Big Brother 2013

Over the past 15 years, the topic of motor vehicle “black boxes” has been discussed and written about ad nauseam in industry circles, and with good reason. The technology has changed the science of accident reconstruction and provided invaluable insight into driver behaviour in the moments leading up to a collision. However, it would be foolish to believe based on the past that the biggest changes are behind us, and that we have a full understanding of the black box effect. In fact, it is now that we are reaching the true tipping point for the technology.

For years we have been told that regulatory changes in the United States would one day push more manufacturers to provide access to the coveted data in their event data recorders (‘EDR’s, i.e. ‘black boxes’), and that changes would be mirrored in Canada. Despite some delays, that day has finally come and gone. In its wake it is worthwhile to review what has changed and why.

The changes were spelled out in the National Highway Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA) Final Ruling on the matter contained in the United States Code of Federal Regulations The scope of the regulation is best spelled out within the code itself:

The code requires that if an automaker manufactured a vehicle which was equipped with an EDR on or after September 1, 2012, then the data in the EDR must comply to the standards in the code, and perhaps most importantly to our industry:

Thus, as of December 1, 2012 the days of automakers being the only ones with access to black box data, which in some cases had been secretly recorded, were over. The playing field was officially levelled. There was, however, a catch: the code does not require automakers to install EDRs in their vehicles, it only controls what must happen if they do. So if an automaker chooses not to install an EDR device in the vehicles it manufacturers, then it is of course under no obligation to provide a commercially available tool to extract data from the nonexistent event data recorder.

These changes to the governing regulations essentially forced all manufacturers to make a choice: release a tool to allow others to readily access and download the information stored in their EDRs, or do not install EDR devices in their vehicles at all. Because the regulatory changes involved input from the manufacturers and were in the works for years, the manufacturers were aware of the changes well in advance. While some chose to adapt to the changes and introduced tools years ago, others waited until the very end. Ultimately, the decisions that were made can essentially be split along geographic boundaries: the Japanese manufacturers joined the North American manufacturers that had already released their tools years ago, while the European and Korean manufacturers chose to sit this one out.

The result is the present state of the technology (which may well be out of date by the time you read this article). As of the time of writing, commercially available tools are capable of downloading EDR data from select models made by the following manufacturers:

Acura, BMW, Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Ford, GMC, Geo, Holden, Honda, Hummer, Infiniti, Isuzu, Jeep, Lancia, Lexus, Lincoln, Mazda, Mercury, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Oldsmobile, Opel, Pontiac, Rolls-Royce, Saab, Saturn, Scion, Sterling, Suzuki, Toyota, and Volvo.

This list represents approximately 77% of the vehicles sold in Canada in 2012, according to sales data collected by Desrosiers Automotive Consultants Inc. If Hyundai/Kia were to make the decision to follow suit by installing EDRs in their vehicles, that number would instantly jump to almost 90%.

This is a point worth reflecting on for a moment: going forward, at least three out of every four vehicles sold in Canada will contain some form of black box that can be interrogated after a collision to provide useful information about what was happening in the moments leading up to the crash. With so many black boxes in the general vehicle population, imagine how many will start to show up in the claims you handle every day.

In the very near future, it will be almost impossible for at least one vehicle in a multi-vehicle collision to not contain a black box that can help answer the questions surrounding the collision. In fact, it will become increasing likely that every vehicle involved in a multi-vehicle collision will be equipped with a black box that can be readily accessed by a trained professional.

The explosion of this technology clearly has very real consequences for our industry. It is now crucial to have plans in place for the extraction and secure storage of black box data after a motor vehicle collision has occurred in order to ensure that a full picture of what happened is obtained and to avoid allegations of evidence spoliation. The good news is that thanks to the new regulations, the extraction process is possible without the involvement of the original equipment manufacturers, thus making it quick and cost-effective while producing valuable evidence in a digital format that is cheap and easy to store.

As for the contents and interpretation of the extracted data, that is a topic that would fill volumes rather than pages, and is perhaps the most diverse and rapidly changing part of the technology. Those changes are sure to continue as the technology continues to evolve. The best and most powerful information from these data recorders may be yet to come, however it is unlikely that we will ever experience such a rapid, wide-spread expansion in the availability of EDR data as we have over the past six months. _

Mark A. Fabbroni, B.A. Sc., M.A. Sc., P. Eng., is a Forensic Engineer with Giffin Koerth Inc.