Black Boxes in Cars: Your Complete Guide

You may have heard of the term “black box” when people talk about an airplane crash. You might have also been confused as to what a black box is and why it is so important. 

Well, planes are not the only mode of transportation that have black boxes. Cars can have them too, and John Foy has the answers that you need for your black box questions.

What Is a Black Box?

A black box is actually a generic term for any computerized system that records driver safety, the vehicle’s status on the road, and information about a wreck. This means that a black box is not necessarily always black in color. 

There are many different types of black boxes. Some black boxes do not even start recording data until a collision is detected, though they will typically “grab” the previous minutes of recording from before the incident. 

The black box is the blanket term for an “Event Data Recorder.” These devices are set to start recording when they sense sudden deceleration, airbag deployment, abrupt braking, and seatbelt tensioner activation. Event data recorders are used to record and measure an abundance of information involved with a crash including:

• Speed of the motor vehicle
• Cruise control status
• Brake application
• Clutch application
• Wheel turning
• Vehicle roll angle
• Seatbelt status of passengers
• Throttle position
• Steering angle

With all of the important recorded information, event data recorders can help determine what caused the crash in the first place. They cannot help prove what the other vehicle was doing right before the accident. Although, if the other vehicle has a black box as well, then we can put the recorded data together to form a clearer understanding of how the traffic accident occurred and who is at fault. 

Does Every Motor Vehicle Have a Black Box?

Almost every motor vehicle has some version of a black box within them. Most passenger cars designed and produced today will have some sort of event data recorder. The car brands Ford, Chrysler, GM, Toyota, Nissan, and Honda all require their vehicle to have black boxes. 

Unless your passenger car is fairly old (before the early 1990s), then your car will more than likely have a black box. This is especially true if you are driving a commercial truck. These vehicles are required to have event data recorders in order to have a detailed report about the truck’s status on the road and the traffic accident (if one were to occur). 

Commercial truck drivers are usually carrying and transporting thousands of dollars worth of goods. These large companies involved want to closely monitor the drivers in order to make sure that they are performing the job to the best of their ability, and this is where the black boxes can also be useful. 

How Long Does It Take to Retrieve Black Box Data?

Once a crash occurs, and the black box is located, the authorities can retrieve the data relatively quickly. The vital crash data can be gathered in as fast as 2 to 3 hours. However, it can take much longer if the event recording device was damaged in the motor vehicle collision. 

Black boxes are expertly made to be as close to indestructible as possible. Yet, they can still be heavily damaged in severe traffic accidents. The black box (or what is left of it) will be sent to an engineering lab. From there, the specialists will extract the chipsets and printed circuit boards (PCBs) and plug them into an analyzing rig manufactured by the specific black box company. This process to retrieve important data can take many weeks or months (if the data is even retrievable at all). 

Are There Black Box Insurance Policies?

Yes, you can have telematics insurance (black box insurance) for your motor vehicle. Often, people will opt to have black box insurance instead of regular car insurance in hopes of having to pay less money in premiums. The event recording device works all the same. It will record all the time, it will track the policyholder’s driving behavior, and it will track the crash data if one were to occur. 

Your insurance premium payments can be tailored to how much you drive and how safely you drive with black box insurance. These policies are called pay-as-you-drive (PAYD) and usage-based policies (UBI). Better and safer drivers can pay much less than what they would with regular auto insurance plans. 

Do Auto Insurance Companies Have Access to Your Black Box?

Many people worry about the prospect of their car insurance company spying on them through their motor vehicle’s event data recorder. It is important to know that, no, your regular auto insurance does not have access to your black box and its data. The only way an insurance company can track the data from your car’s black box is if you have specifically signed up for a telematics (black box) insurance plan.

Can a Lawyer Use Black Box Data in a Lawsuit?

Yes, attorneys can and often do utilize the vital information recorded from a black box to help with your legal battle. The information from an event data recorded is especially useful when trying to determine who is at fault for the crash. Calling a personal injury or a motor vehicle accident attorney from John Foy & Associates is the best plan of action after a serious motor vehicle accident.

We have an experienced team of lawyers who have been fighting and winning cases for over 20 years. Our team intends on utilizing the important information from both your black box and the other driver’s black box. We can prove that their reckless and negligent driving led to the cause of the collision if we can make use of black box data on the cars’ speed, brake applications, clutch applications, steering angles, and wheel turning. 

Along with black box recorded information, we intend to utilize police reports, medical exams, insurance statements, and witness testimonies to help prove that another driver is liable. This can also help you recover financial compensation from a traffic accident. “The Strong Arm” has recovered over $1 billion dollars in damages for injured and/or wronged Georgians, so contact us today and receive a free evaluation of your case.