S.H.I.T.

[MicaBlue03]

Law on EDRs is not universal or clear

There was a long piece on NPR a couple of years ago about this. Different courts and different laws in different states said different things and handled the data in different ways.

There seemed to be a general (but not universal!) opinion that the data, like the vehicle, belonged to the owner. Therefore it was up to a judge to order discovery in civil cases or up to a judge to issue a warrant in criminal cases. I'm not sure about any end-user license agreements that may have cropped up since then, but wouldn't be surprised if they're common now. Enforceable? Who knows.

For civil cases I'll bet it's a fairly straightforward matter of discovery. For criminal cases it's more complex. Some courts have taken the position that you can't use the data as part of a fishing expedition. They want to see some evidence of a probability of wrongdoing before they'll issue an order to reveal the contents of the EDR.

It all seems pretty rational, but still a little chilling.

 

[greasefingers]

What if you blow an engine or wear-out a drive-train component, and want it repaired under warrantee. Could Toy use the data to determine if the operator is at fault, and not cover the repair for free? For instance: excessive wheel spin, higher than normal rpms, VSC activating too many times in a short period, etc..

 

[Bill42]

Possibly, if a different chip was used the readings might be different. I know jOmama blew up his engine. Maybe he can add whether Toyota honored the warranty on his 4Runner or not.

 

[j0mama]

Toyota did not cover it, but my Toyota was not equiped with the "black box" they didnt cover it, since the supercharger was not purchased in Canada.. (bullshit I know...)

j0.