New Owner concerned with Data Recorder

B

Baba Booey

New member
Hello all. I purchased a new '06 4Runner last week. A few weeks ago, my wife spun out on some ice and totaled our '04 Honda Pilot. We were contemplating getting a new Pilot, but when my wife drove it, she felt very uncomfortable, as it must have brought back memories of the accident. In any case, we now have a 4Runner instead.

I was reading the owner's manual for the 4Runner, and I noticed a disclosure regarding some type of data recorders in the vehicle that can monitor and record information such as speed, acceleration, braking, etc. The manual also stated that it would use this data in the event of an accident for research, but that Toyota would also supply it to police departments if an official request is made for the data.

We are not irreseponsible drivers, but I am concerned that this information could be used against us in court, could be used by insurance companies to deny claims, etc.

Is this typical of Toyota 4Runners? If so, is anyone else here concerned with the implications of having such a device in your vehicle? I am not aware that any other vehicle that I have ever owned had such a device.
 
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These recorders have been around for a few years now. They can only record less than 60 seconds of data prior to an accident and do not include any cockpit (voice) recordings. These are merely data points from the car's CPU prior to the crash. They were put in vehicles to protect the manufacturer from irrelevant lawsuits stating that the vehicles caused the crash when most accidents were driver error. I would not give this a second thought.

Issues where the data recorder could hurt - if you were driving much faster than the posted speed limit, swerving repeatedly which then led to a rollover, or if you intentionally disabled the safety systems on the vehicle. I would say that in 99.99% of the cases this will help you to prove tha you did the right thing (i.e. showing that you hit the brakes when you said you did, what your speed actually was, etc).
 
Wouldn't they need a search warrant to get the information?

I'm assuming yes and that would make it hard to aquire except in the most serious of acts or of a criminal nature.

I think that is the bigger question.

When or what right do they have to take the info.?
 
when someone totals his/her vehicle, insurance has the ownership of that vehicle. I don't think they need to get search warrant for it.
 
abin said:
when someone totals his/her vehicle, insurance has the ownership of that vehicle. I don't think they need to get search warrant for it.
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Noone has ownership of your car until YOU sign it over. If you wanted to you could not accept the payoff from the insurance company and keep your totaled car.
 
Thanks for sharing this information Baba Booey. I recently got in a car accident, and managed to walk away with minor injuries.

One of the other vehicles involved was an 05' or 06' Cadillac SRX which has an event data recorder device (I did a google search). I'm going to have to ask the detective to check out the Cadillac's data recorder if state laws allow it.
 
toybox said:
Noone has ownership of your car until YOU sign it over. If you wanted to you could not accept the payoff from the insurance company and keep your totaled car.
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evidence could not be removed (data recorder). You refuse payoff from insurance and keep the totaled vehicle. I don't think insurance company would be interested in the data recorder. Maybe COPs would.
 
working at a body shop I can tell you this. When a car comes and insurance companies come to write estimates and total vehicle, once they total it they call salvage yards. Then in the following day or two after accepting the offer the customer has the oppurtunity to retrieve anything from the car and plates. then a tow company calls us for charges on the car (storage and previously paid towbills) and then they come and take the car to a salvage yard.

so i think it's fine in that aspect.
 
One my previous vehicle the service department pointed out to me that my SUV had bounced off the speed limiter several times. I told them I'd have a talk with it..... :D

Figure they were planning on denying my warranty work, but they didn't. It was a more of a we are watching you! :p

I got a feeling my 4Runner is also a snitch! :arrow:
 
POS Racing said:
One my previous vehicle the service department pointed out to me that my SUV had bounced off the speed limiter several times. I told them I'd have a talk with it..... :D

Figure they were planning on denying my warranty work, but they didn't. It was a more of a we are watching you! :p

I got a feeling my 4Runner is also a snitch! :arrow:
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Bouncing off the speed limiter does not mean anything, the engine never reached redline. Also, even if you bounce the RPM limiter, the system shuts the engine down and prevents the engine from over-revving. Where you would void your warranty is if you had the ECU modified to over-rev (raise the limiter RPM setting) or altered the air fuel settings, etc...

Koz
 
Koz said:
Bouncing off the speed limiter does not mean anything, the engine never reached redline. Also, even if you bounce the RPM limiter, the system shuts the engine down and prevents the engine from over-revving. Where you would void your warranty is if you had the ECU modified to over-rev (raise the limiter RPM setting) or altered the air fuel settings, etc...

Koz
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That
 
A little surprised that most do not seem to consider this a bigger issue.

Long time luker (my lease is up in 2 months and will be getting a 06!).

First, forget about needing a warrant or anything. If you are in a accident then they will check your Data especially if there was a injury - no matter how small, since a law suit is likely (different rant).

Say you are driving 38 in a 25 zone (like you do every single day on the way to work) you have exceeded the so called "safe speed limit" by 52%. Guess how that is going to sound in court or when your insurance company decids not to pay due to your "gross negligence".

We all (I'm sure 99% of us) drive safe but we also all way exceed posted speed limits. My friend made this statement and I refused to agree until one day on the way to work I drove the "legal speed limit" to work. Well, you can guess my surprise how slow almost all these "legal speed limits" were (talking mostly around town and not highway). Try it tomorrow on the way to work and be surprised. Get ready for the many pissed off guys behind you :)

I agree that all cars should have them, just not mine!

My main question is this = Can these Date Recorders be disconnected?
 
phillyd2, I agree with your comments that this Data Recorder could work against certain individuals. And that obeying the posted speed limits is difficult. But like all things, this is a double edged sword.

If the speed is excessive, then both parties of an accident may be partly liable. However, if this data was important for investigation purposes, I think you can find some good coming from it. I hate drunk drivers (different rant)
 
kimboy said:
phillyd2, I agree with your comments that this Data Recorder could work against certain individuals. And that obeying the posted speed limits is difficult. But like all things, this is a double edged sword.

If the speed is excessive, then both parties of an accident may be partly liable. However, if this data was important for investigation purposes, I think you can find some good coming from it. I hate drunk drivers (different rant)
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Agreed, sort of but do not want to get into a rant about how our liberties are eroding by the second & the nanny state.

Just want to know if it can be disabled.

Thanks!
 
EDRs and NYS Inspections

As usual, this board is ahead of the curve on news items like this. CNN is running a story about EDRs, like it's new news.

In NY State, the Inspection process was updated a few years ago to include reading OBDII data and uploading that data to a DMV server. I believe the intent is to provide a history of every car in NY about emissions controls. But does anyone know what other data is kept by the state? It sounds like the EDR data is very transient since it's only the last X seconds of vehicle data, but is that recorded and saved, too?
 
Re: EDRs and NYS Inspections

lockerc18 said:
As usual, this board is ahead of the curve on news items like this. CNN is running a story about EDRs, like it's new news.
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Maybe but nobody ever answered if these things can be disabled :confused:
 
Everything I have seen seems to point to the fact that these cannot be disabled. Manufacturers have then set up on some sort of a feedback loop to the CPU in the car, if the CPU does not receive the signal from the black box, it will shut down. This is put in place to protect you as well as the manufacturer.
 
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