[url=http://autos.aol.com/article/feds-set-to-mandate-black-box-data-recorders-in-every-car-and/?icid=maing-grid7|hp-laptop|dl6|sec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D268884]Article[/url] [quote]Many motorists don't know it, but it's likely that every time they get behind the wheel, there's a snitch along for the ride. Today is the last day that the public can comment on a proposed law that would put so-called black boxes in every new car sold by September 1, 2014. The thing is, most cars already have them unbeknownst to many drivers. Automakers have been quietly tucking the devices, which automatically record the actions of drivers and the responses of their vehicles in a continuous information loop, into most new cars for years. When a car is involved in a crash or when its airbags deploy, inputs from the vehicle's sensors during the 5 to 10 seconds before impact are automatically preserved. That's usually enough to record things like how fast the car was traveling and whether the driver applied the brake, was steering erratically or had a seat belt on. This data has been used recently, for example, to determine what was happening in cars before accidents when some Toyota owners were claiming their cars were accelerating out of control as they were driving. The idea behind mandating black box data recorders is to gather information that can help investigators determine the causes of accidents and lead to safer vehicles. But privacy advocates say government regulators and automakers are spreading an intrusive technology without first putting in place policies to prevent misuse of the information collected.[/quote] This is great news, at least to me. I've wondered why this hasn't already happened (I made a thread about it on halo.bnet, but I can't find it). I think that my car has one of these, my sister has a device that lets her connect to the car's computer and that can give data about the car's systems. I think that devices like this are great because they take the guesswork out of accident investigation. If I get hit by someone talking on the phone and speeding, I want my insurance company and the police to be able to tell what happened, no matter what the other guy makes up.