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Originally Posted by Idaho-Hummer
So if its not transmitted to OnStar, what is the purpose of recording 5-10 seconds before the impact/event/accident. How, who and why would somebody want and get that information? I'm curoius (sp) as to why GM put that feature in there cars. The only two reasons that I can think of is a CYA for the lawyers and design of a better car, but wouldn't they want the car after the accident to study it.
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Why so many questions in one sentence??????
The original design intent was two-fold; one for engineering purposes, one for cover yo a**.
GM cannot access the information without the owner of the vehicle's permission or via a court order. Permission can be given by the insurance company if they have paid the claim and now own the vehicle.
Remember the Audi fiasco about the people claiming sudden acceleration and it was they were pushing on the accelerator? Well, now if this is stated in court, GM can bring in the black box information (permission granted by owner or a court order), if the air bags were deployed or there was a near deployment, and show that the accelerator was pressed.
It has saved GM probably close to billions of dollars by having many suits thrown out of court due to the proof being in those last five to ten seconds before the bags are blown.
Problem now is that many police agencies have the software as well as many attorneys. In fact, a few years ago, a guy in a Vette was convicted using this information. GM can be used to download the information for the police or a prosecutor, BUT, GM demands a court order, they will not just do it.
The information can also be used to save your a** if you were not at fault.
In the future, all vehicles with this 'black box' information will have to be labeled with that fact. In addition, some groups are trying to get the courts to rule that this information cannot be used in criminal cases. One group is using the 5th Amendment as their case.
GM is NOT the only company to have this feature. They might have been the first.
Dealer cannot access this information via a Tech 2.
The system is always recording the required sensor information. If an air bag is deployed (or there is a near deployment), the five or ten seconds prior to the deployment (or near deployment) is written to a non-volatile memory.
Prosecutors have to be careful when asking for this information. If it finds the defendant innocent, it has to be turned over to the defense as Exculpatory evidence, or the charges dropped.
I believe the Hummer H3 records 10 seconds of information.