Car Accidents - Did You Know

DID YOU KNOW

Many cars have ‘black boxes’ which record accident records. If you were involved in a serious accident, one or more of the vehicles involved may contain a black box loaded with information about the event. First developed for use in aircraft, the on-board recorded is becoming more common in vehicles. General Motors installed them as early as 1996 and other companies soon followed. Additionally, most of the semi-truck manufacturers have been installing them for a number of years.

The recorder is actually a series of on-board computers which record a car’s speed, throttle position, status of its seatbelts, brakes, steering wheel and signaling devices, and its loss of velocity (Delta-V) numbers.

Unfortunately the data is very difficult, if not impossible, to decipher and most car manufacturers have refused to give up the information. However, if you were involved in a serious accident, downloading this information as soon as possible may later turn out to be very useful. Courts are beginning to order car manufacturers to turn over decoding information and once company has even released a program to decipher the data from at least one manufacturer.

SO, if you have been involved in a serious car accident, make sure you or your attorney looks into this issue.

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