Black Box Car Data Belongs to Insurance Co. in "Total Loss" Settlement

This is one of those posts that touches on 1 topic, but is really about another. The data-processing super-computer that is Marc Chung recently sent along an email thread to me that contained a link about how Toyota is stone-walling investigators questioning about the black-box data retrieved from cars involved in recent “unintended acceleration” crashes.

NOTE: For those that don’t know, since the early 90s many cars have included a ‘black box’ that records the state of the car at ever moment (speed, accelerator position, brake position, etc.). The inclusion of these devices have been a relatively secretive process in that car-manufacturers don’t disclose it and the use of this information in court for collision cases has been fuzzy – but growing.

While this information about Toyota’s reluctance to release this information is interesting in and of itself, what I found more interesting was the tidbit in this discussion thread by a fellow named Andrew Burnette:

Another issue that few people are aware of. Should you be involved in a collision in your car, the data in the black box has generally been regarded as your private info. Should you “sell” your car to the insurance company via  a total loss settlement, that data can be used for better or worse to determine speed, aggressive driving and other factors which the owner/driver may not wish to divulge.

To re-clarify that, if you “total” your car in a crash, and it’s your fault and the insurance company says they are ready to cut you a check… you might want to think twice about relinquishing the car to them as they will scan the black box for the operation information of the car and possibly be in the position to deny the claim if they determine it was your fault.

The discussion thread goes on to clarify that the information in the “EDR” (black box) is largely considered that of the owner — I don’t believe this and think it’s likely as damning information as a street light video of the crash if it’s your fault. I can’t imagine in a crash that the police or insurance companies would take pause for 1 moment to ask you if they could “have the data from your black box” for a proper investigation.

The discussion also goes on to point out that some manufacturer’s black boxes record an inordinate amount of information about the car so Toyota’s claims that the black boxes in their cars don’t record “that data” is likely false.

As a general thought-experiment, I’d say if BMW is recording near everything about the car and Cadillac was already doing basic driving-state back in 1995, that the likelyhood a Japanese company is recording every little detail of the car’s operation is very very high.

Be safe out there and be aware of this information if it’s new to you. If you think your Toyota was involved in an unintended acceleration and you are current investigating legal options against Toyota, I’d be very curious if you can find anyone that will pull that black box data for you. Apparently most 3rd party people don’t really want to discuss it when asked about it and it’s not the type of thing you can get the local Jiffy Lube to do.

I also have to imagine the data format those things store their information is proprietary and only readable by the manufacturer.