If you have a black box (or “Event Data Recorder”) in your vehicle, the box’s primary purpose is really to trigger your airbag in the event of a Texas car accident. But the black box also allows for an EDR data download after a crash. Automakers design the EDRs to retain about 15 seconds worth of data leading up to the crash event when you’re injured in a Texas car accident. Your EDR might record such things as your speed prior to impact, whether you used a turn signal, pressure on the brake and/or gas pedals, and whether car warning signals (like the airbag light) engaged. As of the 2013 car model year, U.S. NHTSA and DOT rules will mandate that car EDRs all record the same EDR data evidence in the same format. The agencies indicate that these new, standardized EDRs should record:
Your car’s speed prior to an impact where you’re injured in a Texas car accident.
Any change in the forward crash speed.
The maximum change in forward crash speed.
The moment when the maximum change in forward crash speed occurs during a wreck.
Your pressure on the gas accelerator pedal.
Ignition cycle at the time of the impact.
Ignition cycle at the time of the EDR data download.
Whether you applied the brake or not before the crash.
Whether you had your seatbelt on.
Whether the front airbag warning light was on at the time of the accident.
The driver’s front airbag deployment time.
The passenger’s front airbag deployment time.
The number of total impacts or crash events in the Texas car accident.
The time between the first two crash events (if there were more than one).
Whether the EDR completed its recording of the crash event or not.
The elements of this EDR data download list may change slightly. New data items intended for an EDR data download may join the ones listed above. The DOT and the NHTSA have said they’ll issue the final mandate on the subject in October 2011. Even when black boxes all become standardized and an EDR data download presents us with a predictable data set, many states will still bar EDR data evidence from court. And let’s face it, no matter how sophisticated, a machine is still an unimaginative machine.
When you’ve been injured in a Texas car accident, you could always benefit from the skill and ability of a savvy and experienced Galveston, TX accident injury lawyer. His understanding of how the law applies to the particular facts and circumstances of your individual case should prove invaluable to you. You’ll need experience on your side as you try to make a case for fair financial compensation following your Texas car accident. Call on us. We have years of experience making negligent drivers pay their innocent victims for harmful mistakes on the roads.