Event Data Recorders keep cars plugged in for safety

In this final installment, we look at how Event Data Recorders work in the real world:

Need for better information
Earlier this year, we attended a traffic safety conference called LifeSavers, which held a seminar on Event Data Recorders (EDRs) and what their role should properly be. The attendees, mostly professionals in the traffic-safety field, seemed to broadly agree that a lot more information is needed about actual crashes.

That's because most of the time, technical information about any particular crash is pretty sketchy. Out of the six million or so annual crashes, the federal government takes a close look at only about 5,000. Other crashes are investigated at the local level, but the results aren't gathered into any single database. Particularly with non-fatal, injury-only crashes, there just isn't enough data-gathering going on.

The prospect of all cars one day carrying some accurate device that would record the crash event makes road-safety types salivate.

EDRs are not infallible
However, a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) official at the conference, A.B. "Chip" Chidester, pointed out some problems with relying too much on EDR data. The EDR is sometimes damaged or destroyed in the crash, rendering its information suspect. The EDR uses a backup power source in the form of a capacitor, but if the car's main power system is disabled, the capacitor may exhaust itself just getting the air bags to deploy. Sometimes no, or incorrect, crash data is recorded because of that or because one of the sensor wires is broken in the crash.

Chidester's main point was that EDRs cannot at this point take the place of professional crash reconstructionists. On-site inspections remain vital. The EDR can validate what the crash investigator finds, but it can't take the place of a full investigation.

The last analysis
What does the future hold? On the technical side there's a need for more robust and fool-proof technology. On the legal side, we need clear laws spelling out the consumer's rights.

It seems clear that data recorders will become more common and will be able to gather more comprehensive information in the coming years. The story they can tell is just too useful to imagine that EDRs will be outlawed. But as this enticing technology develops, we need strong safeguards to insure that crash data is not misused. Thankfully, that is the direction that most state legislatures are taking.

--Gordon Hard

Also read: "Black boxes, crash investigations, and your privacy."