Highway regulators: Car 'black boxes' can't be secret

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says carmakers will need to notify buyers about the recorders.
Photos: Watched at the wheel

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[guynamedalex]

I won't buy it

The consumer should be have the right to disable this features if they want to, this is way to much big brother watching for my comfort zone. Laws need to dictate that the information can only be given out with the consumers approval. When I go shopping for a new car, and I am, this will be something that helps make my decision of what or what not to buy.

[simelane]

You shouldn't be able to disable it

I don't think that one whould ever be able to disable the controllers. There is more benefit to having some central device in the vehicle receive and aggregate information from a number of other components.

Think of how the dynamic stability systems work today. They integrate information from the wheels, engine, steering wheel, engine, accelerater/brakes etc. to determine when and how to intervene to rescue a vehicle that is careening out of control (try taking your Jaguar/Mercedes/BMW/etc on an advanced driving course and see if you can lose control)

I do however think that the owner of the vehicle should be the only person that can authorise access to the data collected on the data recorder. In this way. One way of ensuring this would be to issue some kind of pin with each new vehicle (similar to in car radios in the late 80's and early 90's). Just as with the pin protected in car radios of the 80's and 90's, a court could order the manufacturer to issue an unlock (over ride) key were the owner unable to issue such a key themselves (e.g. if they died in the accident)

[Des Alba]

Avoid buying these cars!

It's just not a good idea to help someone build a case against you or have that information manipulated to serve an insurance company's means to deny claims. This info will be misused. You can bet on that. Don't buy a car with this device in it.

[Gasaraki]

Good Idea

Don't buy cars at all because the most new cars will have the black box in it. Just go back to riding horses. In fact, stay at home and close all the blinds because in any public space, big brother is watching you.

[Paul Schantz]

Cars should have black boxes

I agree that there is certainly potential for abuse of this data by insurance companies. To address privacy concerns, black boxes in cars should only record information for a limited amount of time, perhaps only one or two trips on a rolling basis. The only time it would actually store recorded data would be in the event of an accident (i.e. - excessive g-load).


From a purely safety-conscious perspective, I think this is a great idea, especially if the data is to be used the same way black box information is used in commercial aviation (I'm a commercial pilot).


NTSB review of black box data in aircraft accidents consistently shows that most aviation accidents are caused by pilot error. Accidents rarely result from a single catastrophic error, but usually through a combination of bad situations along with a chain of poor pilot decisions. This is often referred to as "the accident chain." If you break a link in the chain, the accident cannot happen. If this is the case for highly trained professionals in a tightly-controlled environment, one can only imagine the situation for the average automobile driver on public roadways.


In this particular case, I think privacy concerns are overblown. Driving on PUBLIC roads is a PRIVILEGE given by the state. Your license OBLIGATES you to follow the rules. If you must drive fast or recklessly, do it on a race track.

[dstidolph]

I'm for the black box's

First off, I firmly believe in the privacy of the individual. I believe that a court order should be required before any search of my person or my records - including a black box recorder.

If used properly, the data can be used to help a judge or jury know what happened in an accident without having to resort to unreliable witness testamony.

A black box can show that you DID hit the brakes, or that you WERE speeding (or were not). It isn't perfect, but it is something.

Right now a policeman comes on the scene of an accident and except for burned rubber, he has little to go on to determine exactly who is at fault in an accident.

Anyway, that's my opinion.

[qwerty75]

Lets just lowjack and monitor everyone

No matter where they are or what they are doing.

This seems to be where we are going and people like that places like China or Cuba will soon be more free then the USA, even if they don't change any policies.