Black box... what do you guys do???
05-23-2008, 04:39 PM
#21
First one:
Guy in a TA was driving down a residential street. Two young females (mid teens) backed out of a driveway. The Trans Am driver hit their car and killed both occupants. The black box showed the car doing 96 miles per hour (in a 25 I believe) at the time of impact. He got signifigantly more jail time due to knowing the speed than they think he would have if they had just thought he was speeding (50-ish not nearly 100 mph). Obviously the impact showed it was not a light hit though, so who knows if the info was much more than "icing on the cake" for the prosecuter.
The other one:
A woman and her friend are driving in the snow in a mid sized GM SUV (Bravada I think). They slid off the road in the snow and her friend was killed in the impact with a tree. The data showed that she was going 48 mph in the snow. Or, was she spinning her wheels on the slick surface at a much lower speed trying to avoid the tree? Due to the indicated speed, they pushed for a more serious charge and got it (saying she was wreckless to be going 48 mph and that's what caused her friends death). Now her friend is dead and she's facing a few years in prison due in part (signifigant part) to the data in that box. I wasn't there, so I don't know. But this one seems a bit shaky to me.
I forgot about the boxes when I went truck shopping. I swore I wasn't going to buy another GM product with the box, and then I bought my 2007 1 ton Chevy pickup. Oops.
05-24-2008, 12:51 AM
#22
I've read (so far) of two cases where it was used in court (I'm sure there have been far more than that, but these are all I've managed to locate).
First one:
Guy in a TA was driving down a residential street. Two young females (mid teens) backed out of a driveway. The Trans Am driver hit their car and killed both occupants. The black box showed the car doing 96 miles per hour (in a 25 I believe) at the time of impact. He got signifigantly more jail time due to knowing the speed than they think he would have if they had just thought he was speeding (50-ish not nearly 100 mph). Obviously the impact showed it was not a light hit though, so who knows if the info was much more than "icing on the cake" for the prosecuter.
The other one:
A woman and her friend are driving in the snow in a mid sized GM SUV (Bravada I think). They slid off the road in the snow and her friend was killed in the impact with a tree. The data showed that she was going 48 mph in the snow. Or, was she spinning her wheels on the slick surface at a much lower speed trying to avoid the tree? Due to the indicated speed, they pushed for a more serious charge and got it (saying she was wreckless to be going 48 mph and that's what caused her friends death). Now her friend is dead and she's facing a few years in prison due in part (signifigant part) to the data in that box. I wasn't there, so I don't know. But this one seems a bit shaky to me.
I forgot about the boxes when I went truck shopping. I swore I wasn't going to buy another GM product with the box, and then I bought my 2007 1 ton Chevy pickup. Oops.
First one:
Guy in a TA was driving down a residential street. Two young females (mid teens) backed out of a driveway. The Trans Am driver hit their car and killed both occupants. The black box showed the car doing 96 miles per hour (in a 25 I believe) at the time of impact. He got signifigantly more jail time due to knowing the speed than they think he would have if they had just thought he was speeding (50-ish not nearly 100 mph). Obviously the impact showed it was not a light hit though, so who knows if the info was much more than "icing on the cake" for the prosecuter.
The other one:
A woman and her friend are driving in the snow in a mid sized GM SUV (Bravada I think). They slid off the road in the snow and her friend was killed in the impact with a tree. The data showed that she was going 48 mph in the snow. Or, was she spinning her wheels on the slick surface at a much lower speed trying to avoid the tree? Due to the indicated speed, they pushed for a more serious charge and got it (saying she was wreckless to be going 48 mph and that's what caused her friends death). Now her friend is dead and she's facing a few years in prison due in part (signifigant part) to the data in that box. I wasn't there, so I don't know. But this one seems a bit shaky to me.
I forgot about the boxes when I went truck shopping. I swore I wasn't going to buy another GM product with the box, and then I bought my 2007 1 ton Chevy pickup. Oops.
05-24-2008, 01:25 AM
#23
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every car that has an airbag that goes off will have the crash data stored in the airbag module, it will record data like if your seat belt was buckled, and the speed/g force of the collision. the air bag module has its own accelerometer built into it. and in newer vehicles all the modules in the car have access to all the other modules for data over the can bus and serial data lines,, the airbag module could get data from the abs module to know if and when the brake pedal was pressed compared to when the crash occured.
this is why you have to replace the airbag module whenever the air bags go off,, the stored data cannot be erased even with a dealer scan tool
"there are aftermarket tools that can erase the airbag crash data for some cars, and there are also web sites that you can send your module too and they will clear out the crash data for you. this could end up bad if the module doesnt work correctly the next time you need the airbags to go off and someone is injured, who is responsible,,, the person who messed with the module so it isnt recomended but can be done"
this is why you have to replace the airbag module whenever the air bags go off,, the stored data cannot be erased even with a dealer scan tool
"there are aftermarket tools that can erase the airbag crash data for some cars, and there are also web sites that you can send your module too and they will clear out the crash data for you. this could end up bad if the module doesnt work correctly the next time you need the airbags to go off and someone is injured, who is responsible,,, the person who messed with the module so it isnt recomended but can be done"
