mimo2005

It could be in your car and you may not even know it.

But if you're in an accident, it knows everything. It knows how fast you were traveling, whether your seat belt was buckled and if you applied the brakes.

It's called a "black box" and it's an event data recorder equipped in some 30 million U.S. automobiles and in 90 percent of all new cars coming off the assembly lines from such companies as General Motors, Ford, Saab and Isuzu.


http://www.ecnnews.com/cgi-bin/15/et...em-20060220-fn



ps : wait a minute ..i need to open the hood of my car ...and cut some electrical cords and other stuff

yustr

Want to slow down traffic? Have the Box record actual speed versus posted speed as you pass over sensors inbedded in the road. Then when you go to pay your annual registration fee they dump the data from the box and find out that you've driven over the limit X times. Your fine is $100,000.

I give it 2-5 years before some company is selling it to states and municipalities - for a percentage of the fines of course...you heard it first here folks...

Also (and more on topic) it will be able to tell if you've used your car to commit suicide. Usually if you're heading for a bridge support you'll hit the breaks. Before the police could only tell if there were skid marks (pre-ABS) and a broken leg or hip as your leg was jammed back into you by the force of the impact. But now they'll just download the data and the insurance complany will say "Sorry kids, it weren't no accident."

sinclair_tm

this black box doesnot work like this. its called a pcm, or power control module. being car engines are now all computer controlled, it pick ups signals from all the sensors in the car and adjusts fuel/air mixture on the fly for the best emissions/power combo. and remember new dashes are all electronic, so the speed sensor makes the speedo needle work. and the only time it records info is if the check engine light comes on. it takes a snapshot of what the car was doing at that time so that a auto tech can look to see what caused the light to come one, and repair the car accordingly. as far as keeping track of brakes, thats how the abs and traction control work. and for the seatbelts, it is only to turn the seatbelt light in the dash on and off. it doesn't record that. this is all things that insurence companies want car makers to do, so that they can denie more claim payments, but there is still no such thing in cars. if there are, they must be built super well, because we have never replaced one on a car, and there is no such thing even listed in the parts catolog.(remember, i work at a GM car dealership in the parts department)

yustr

Good to know. But what's the over/under on when the insurance companies make them do it? I'd say 3 years. Of course they'll sell it as a "safety enhancement".

Now combine that with real time tracking systems (can you say OnStar?) and those flashing lights behind you are cause the car told the police your seatbelt was not buckled and knew just where to find you.

sinclair_tm

you know that is sure to come, but i think there will be some special interest group that will be fighting it in the courts, like it invades privacy. and imo it would. of course only own old cars (1976 chevy suburban!), and there is no worry.