Law guards use of vehicle data
Carmakers installing 'black boxes' to get accident information
Michael Cabanatuan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 23, 2003
A little-publicized privacy bill signed into law Monday aims to protect California motorists from a little-known device dubbed the "black box" that records data on how a vehicle was being driven just before an accident.
The legislation, the first of its kind in the nation, prevents the recorded data from being obtained by police or others without the vehicle owner's consent or a court order -- except in cases of safety research in which the owner's identity is protected.
The law, which takes effect July 1, 2004, also requires automakers to disclose the presence of the devices in the owner's manual.
"Most people don't even know these devices exist," said Kevin O'Neill, legislative director for Assemblyman Tim Leslie, R-Tahoe City, author of the bill. "That was why we did this bill."
Known as event data recorders or sensing and diagnostic modules in the auto industry, the devices record information about how a vehicle was being driven just before a crash. Among the information recorded are speed, whether -- and how hard -- the brakes are applied, the angle of the steering wheel, the position of the accelerator, direction of travel and whether or not seat belts were being used.
The devices, which record information on a continuous loop that rewrites itself every few seconds, lock the information in place only after an accident that deploys an air-bag.
Data from the recorders can be downloaded only after a crash.
Automakers started using the devices as a way to collect accident information for safety purposes such as preventing the unnecessary deployment of air-bags.
General Motors -- the main user of the devices -- began installing the boxes in some cars as early as the 1970s, said O'Neill, and now installs them in every new car. Ford also installs recorders in some of its vehicles, he said, but most other automakers don't yet use them.
In recent years, O'Neill said,
data from the the devices has found its way into court -- primarily to defend automakers in cases where consumers claimed a vehicle malfunctioned. In at least one case, the recorded data was used as evidence in a vehicle accident.
Recently, South Dakota police tried to get data to show whether Rep. Bill Janklow had run a stop sign before he struck and killed a motorcyclist.
"With the ability of law enforcement to get this information, and other people to get this information, we thought consumers needed protection about how (these devices) could be used," O'Neill said.
Leslie said in a written statement that the legislation was necessary because the recorders were installed in vehicles without the owners' consent.
He likened use of the devices to wiretaps, and said that, to protect motorists against illegal search and seizure, a court order should be required to download data from the devices.
The law, he said in a letter urging Gov. Gray Davis to sign the bill, "will give consumers the knowledge they currently lack concerning the presence of 'black boxes' as well as empower them as to how and when the information can be retrieved and used."
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