Feds Want 'Black Boxes' in New Cars. . .

[21cExp]

I'd heard some auto makers had put black box type devices in some vehicles already, but this sounds more all inclusive and pervasive. And bound to be abused in one way or another:

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration would like to make it mandatory for automakers to install a so-called "black box" in all new cars and light trucks.

 

[layoutshooter]

Another good reason NOT to buy a new car or truck. MORE government imposed costs AND intrusion into our lives. I do think it is funny in one respect. The public will cry out against it when it hits them and demand it on our trucks.

 

[mjmsprt40]

There might not be much public outcry even then. The "black box" only comes into play in aircraft when there's been an accident. Otherwise, the plane my fly millions of miles between being built and being broken up for scrap and nobody will pay any attention at all to the black box. Of course you know accidents on the road always happen to "the other guy" so---.

Of course, what these things typically do is record speed, braking, steering input and so on for about the last half hour preceding the incident that required someone to examine the black box record. That might help put away some drunk drivers, problem is that it might also drive insurance rates up or even give your insurance carrier excuse not to cover you if you were speeding excessively and/or engaging in aggressive driving in the half hour before the wreck. That's when people will start squawking.

 

[layoutshooter]

IF that 'black box' has a GPS locator built in they COULD be used to track people's movements. Now, I am SURE that the government would NEVER do that. IF they WERE to track us, it would ONLY ever be used as a means of assessing road taxes.

 

[AMonger]

Another good reason NOT to buy a new car or truck. MORE government imposed costs AND intrusion into our lives. I do think it is funny in one respect. The public will cry out against it when it hits them and demand it on our trucks.

I'm surprised they haven't. But as far as tracking cars, I think most 'Muricans are sufficiently cowed to accept it. The "if-you-haven't-got-anything-to-hide" crowd is huge. If you object, you must be one of the America-hating evil-doers, and you belong in Gitmo, being waterboarded. You'd be surprised how many on this very forum think that.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

that little ole ECM in there you'd be surprised the info on that thing....the black box is pretty much in there now...

 

[21cExp]

Anyone with OnStar is being tracked, or has the capability of being tracked. Also, as I recall, the Feds got turned down when they requested that they be able to "listen in" on conversations in potential gangster or terrorist vehicles equipped with OnStar.

As for the Black Boxes being installed, the article states:

"The data recorders track a number of items, including vehicle speed, whether a driver tried to step on the brakes before a crash, information about engine throttle, air bag readiness before a crash, and whether seat belts were buckled."

The article gives an example, too:

"Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray of Massachusetts found out the hard way last year.

He crashed a car he was driving and told police that he was wearing a seatbelt and was not speeding at the time of the crash.

However the black box installed in his car revealed he was actually speeding at 75 miles per hour in a 65 mile per hour zone, before accelerating to more than 100 miles per hour.

According to Scott Ferson, a spokesman for the lieutenant governor's campaign, Murray believes he either fell asleep or hit black ice.

The lieutenant governor was not issued a ticket at the time of the accident. However, after police examined the vehicle's black box they handed Murray a $555 ticket for speeding in excess of 100 miles per hour."

Then continues: "Consumer and privacy advocates do not disagree there are many potential benefits from the devices, but insist that proper safeguards be put in place to prevent your car from turning into a spy of sorts for insurance companies that may want to raise your rates."

That last part is what I have doubts about. As I said in the OP, it is bound to be abused in one way or another.

 

[AMonger]

Anyone with OnStar is being tracked, or has the capability of being tracked. Also, as I recall, the Feds got turned down when they requested that they be able to "listen in" on conversations in potential gangster or terrorist vehicles equipped with OnStar.

Well, sorta. They didn't request it. They did it as part of an ongoing investigation, likely one among many. When it was discovered how they had listened in in the suspect, the defense moved to have it suppressed. And the court granted that motion, but not for privacy reasons. When the feds were listening in, that disabled some of the safety features. The suspect couldn't have made an emergency call at the time because the system was in-use. That's the only reason it was ruled the cops can't listen to you via your On*Star. If they've somehow solved that problem, maybe by acting I'm the place of On*Star if you push the emergency button, maybe they can do it now.

 

[Steady Eddie]

It's been here for some time. Nothing new.
The National Transportation Safety Board recently divulged they had funded a project with the US auto makers for the past five years. The NTSB covertly funded a project whereby the auto makers were installing black boxes in four wheel drive pickup trucks in an effort to determine, in fatal accidents, the circumstances in the last 15 seconds before the crash.
They were surprised to find in 49 of the 50 states the last words of drivers in 61.2% of fatal crashes were, "Oh, *hit!"
Only the state of Texas was different, where 89.3% of the final words were, "Hey Y'all, hold my beer and watch this!"

 

[redytrk]

Your smartphone is already tattle telling on you.

 

[cheri1122]

OVM is correct: the 'black box' has been on vehicles for many years. I recall a case where a driver killed 2 little old ladies backing out of a driveway: speed limit [on the street was 25, teenager admitted to going "about 65". His pickup was totalled, the insurance company wrote him a check for it, and turned the black box over to investigators, who found the teen had been going almost 100 mph when he hit the brakes. That was at least 15 years ago.
Just recently, I read that Virginia and Texas use sensors in the road to collect info from the GPS of cellphones to determine traffic speeds, among other things. I wondered how long before they use the info to issue speeding tickets.....

 

[Deville]

That's why I akways keep the GPS on my cell phone switched off.

 

[Moot]

However the black box installed in his car revealed he was actually speeding at 75 miles per hour in a 65 mile per hour zone, before accelerating to more than 100 miles per hour.

According to Scott Ferson, a spokesman for the lieutenant governor's campaign, Murray believes he either fell asleep or hit black ice.

I'm pretty sure it was black ice. 9 out of 10 single vehicle crashes are caused by black ice according to the American Dental Association. Black ice, no doubt about it.