Event data recorder

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An event data memory or event data recorder (abbreviated EDR , sometimes called " black box " means, in analogy to the colloquial term for black box ), a device that is primarily installed in automobiles in order for accident analyzes record technical information. The term Motor Vehicle Event Data Recorder (MVEDR) is used in IEEE Standard 1616 . In the United States, EDRs must meet federal standards as described in the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, and information from these devices can be analyzed in the event of an accident to determine what the vehicles were doing before, during, and after the accident or event.

The recording is started automatically in the event of an accident or the detection of errors. In modern diesel trucks z. For example, EDRs are triggered by electronically detected problems in the engine or a sudden change in wheel speed. The data is then saved in a memory that is protected against power failure. Depending on the manufacturer and vehicle type, additional data can also be stored in other control devices such as PPM (Pedestrian Protection Module), ROS (Roll-Over Sensor) or PCM (Powertrain Control Module).

Since EDR technology has its origins in the USA, newly registered vehicles for the European market are currently (as of 2018) not fully equipped with the technology.

definition

"Event data recorder (EDR) means a device or function in a vehicle that records the vehicle's dynamic time-series data during the time period just prior to a crash event (eg, vehicle speed vs. time) or during a crash event (eg , delta-V vs. time), intended for retrieval after the crash event. For the purposes of this definition, the event data do not include audio and video data. "

"EDR refers to a device or a function in a vehicle that uses the vehicle's dynamic time series data during the period immediately prior to an accident event (e.g. vehicle speed versus time) or during an accident event (e.g. delta-V versus time) that are intended to be read out after a collision event. For the purposes of this definition, the event data does not include audio and video data. "

- NHTSA , 49 CFR 563 - Event Data Recorders

Working method

Some EDRs continuously record data, overwriting the previous few minutes until an accident stops them, and others are activated by crash-like events (such as sudden changes in speed) and can continue to record until the accident is over or until the recording time is up . EDRs can record a wide variety of data items, potentially including whether the brakes were applied, speed at the time of impact, steering angle, and whether seat belt shifts were represented as "buckled" or "unbuckled" at the time of impact. Current EDRs store the information internally in an EEPROM until it is restored by the module. Some vehicles have communication systems (such as GM's OnStar system ) that can transmit some data, such as a warning that the airbags have deployed, to a remote location.

Most EDRs in motor vehicles and light commercial vehicles are part of the restraint system control unit (ACM - Airbag Control Module, also known as RCM (Restraint Control Module)), which detects impact accelerations and determines which restraint devices (airbags and / or belt tensioners) should be triggered. After tripping (or not tripping), decisions are made and if power is still available the data is written to memory. The data downloaded from older EDRs typically contain 6 to 8 pages of information, although many newer systems contain many more data items and require more pages depending on the make / model / year of the vehicle being evaluated. Depending on the type of EDR, it can contain either a deployment file or a non-deployment file, or both, depending on the circumstances of the collisions and the time interval between them.

It is also possible that data cannot be recovered from a data recorder. One situation in which this can occur is a catastrophic loss of electrical energy early in a collision event. In this situation, the reserve of energy in the restraint system controller capacitors can be completely used up by the deployment of the airbags, with insufficient energy remaining to write data to the EEPROM. There are other circumstances where a module may not be able to record a data file.

Most EDRs in heavy trucks are part of the electronic engine control module (ECM - Engine Control Module), which controls the injection timing and other functions in modern high-performance diesel engines. The EDR functions are different for different engine manufacturers, but most of them detect engine events such as sudden stops, low oil pressure or loss of coolant. Detroit Diesel , Caterpillar Inc. , Mercedes-Benz , Mack Trucks, and Cummins Engines are among those that may include this feature. When an error-related event occurs, the data is written to memory. When an event caused by a decrease in wheel speed is detected, the data written to memory can include nearly two minutes of vehicle speed, brake application, clutch application and cruise control status. The data can later be downloaded using the computer software and cables for the specific motor. These software tools often allow monitoring of the driver's hours of operation, fuel consumption, idle time, average vehicle speeds, and other information related to the maintenance and operation of the vehicle.

Some EDRs only track the longitudinal speed of the car and not the lateral speed. Analysts generally look at the momentum, energy, and crash damage, then compare their speed estimates to the number coming from the EDR to get a full view of the accident.

There are many different patents related to different types of EDR features.

history

In the 1970s, General Motors was looking for a way to analyze the performance of restraint systems in real accidents. For this reason, a function was built into the manufacturer's airbag control units that made it possible to save information about the course of an accident, its severity and the decisions made by the airbag control unit to deploy. Access to this data was initially reserved for the manufacturer. Event data recorders were introduced in the American Open Wheel Championship CART in the 1993 season and in the Formula 1 World Championship in 1997 . This made accident investigations possible, which allowed rules for new cars to be developed and safety measures to be followed to reduce damage.

Use of the device in road vehicles used to vary greatly from manufacturer to manufacturer, but EDRs are now mandatory in all new vehicles. As of 2003, at least 40 million vehicles in the United States were equipped with the devices. In the UK, many police and emergency vehicles are fitted with a more accurate and detailed version made by one of several independent companies. Both the Metropolitan Police and the City of London Police are long-term users of EDRs and have used post-incident data to convict both police officers and civilians.

Access to EDR information

Methods

Carry out a download with the control unit removed (bench download)
Download from a control unit via DLC

The best way to download from an airbag control module in most vehicles is to connect the appropriate scan tool to the Diagnostic Link Connector ( DLC ), which is usually located under the vehicle dashboard near the driver's knees. Alternatively, some modules can be downloaded "onto the workbench" after they have been removed from the vehicle.

United States

The legal situation in the USA requires that EDR data must be readable with a commercially available tool. About 87% of the vehicles of the model year 2017 and newer are by CDR tool ( C rash D ata R supports etrieval) from Bosch that allows retrieval of EDR data from a person involved in an accident vehicle. This tool consists of hardware and software that offers the possibility of "displaying", "downloading" or "calling up" the EDR data stored in the control units of passenger cars, light commercial vehicles and SUVs. The software component is a single stand-alone program designed to run in a Windows environment. The hardware portion of the tool consists of a collection of components, including cables and adapters, that are used by appropriately trained personnel to "pull" data from supported vehicles.

Another 12% of the 2017 model year and newer vehicles are supported by other EDR tools. This mainly affects vehicles from Hyundai and Kia , which can be read with the tool from GIT (Global Information Technology). A proprietary readout option was created for Tesla vehicles at the beginning of 2018. The limited need to cover less frequently assisted vehicles can eliminate the need for the initial investment in software and equipment for many accident reconstruction or related jobs.

Europe

In 2014 the European Commission commissioned a study "Study on the benefits resulting from the installation of Event Data Recorders" at the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) as the successor to the VERONICA projects , which looked at the cost-benefit of EDR. There is still no uniform regulation regarding EDR in Europe (status 09/2018). From September 1, 2020, however, the use of EDR technology is to be mandatory for new models in the EC vehicle classes M1 and N1. The deadline for new registrations is September 1, 2022.

In the case of imported vehicles or in the USA and the EU, vehicle types of the same or similar construction may currently be available with EDR functionality. Volvo and Toyota allowed access to EDR data for their European models in 2014. From the 2018 model year (fourth quarter), the EDR systems can be freely read from most Volkswagen vehicles (Audi, VW, Skoda, Seat and others).

In addition to freely accessible (so-called "public EDR") systems, many vehicles in Europe also contain EDR systems that cannot be accessed freely (so-called "private EDR"). Furthermore, there are some deviations between the readability officially communicated by the vehicle manufacturers and the actual possibilities for data access. Internet databases such as EDRfinder.com list the actual access options for all types of EDR systems and are a good supplementary source of information to the official manufacturer information.

EDR regulation of the NHTSA

From 1998 to 2001, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) sponsored a working group in the United States that was specifically charged with EDRs. After years of evaluation, in 2004 the NHTSA issued a formal notice of the proposed scheme. This announcement stated the NHTSA's intention to standardize EDRs. It was only in August 2006 that the NHTSA published its final decision (49 CFR Part 563). The decision was long (207 pages), consisting not only of definitions and mandatory EDR standards, but also a formal response to the dozen of petitions the NHTSA received after the 2004 announcement.

Since there was already an overwhelming trend towards voluntary EDR installation, the regulation did not require manufacturers to install EDRs in vehicles produced for North America. Based on its analysis, the NHTSA estimated that by 2010 over 85% of vehicles would have EDRs installed. However, the agency warned that if the trend did not continue, they would reconsider their decision and possibly make installation a requirement.

However, the provision provided a minimum standard for the type of data that EDRs would need to record: at least 15 types of crash data. Some of the required crash data includes pre-crash speed, engine load, brake usage, measured changes in forward speed (Delta-V), driver's seat belt use, airbag warning light status and airbag deployment times. Data during the crash phase should be recorded at 100 Hz.

In addition to the data required, the NHTSA also set standards for 30 other types of data when EDRs were voluntarily configured to collect them. For example, if a manufacturer configured an EDR to record engine speed or ABS activity, the EDR would need to record 5 seconds of this pre-crash data in half-second increments (2 Hz).

In addition to the requirement that all data withstand a 30 mph barrier crash and be measured with a defined precision, the NHTSA also required that all manufacturers make their EDR data publicly available. As of October 2009, only General Motors, Ford, and Daimler Chrysler had released their EDR data for public reading. In the August 2006 decision, the NHTSA set a schedule for all vehicle manufacturers to comply with the new EDR standards. The fulfillment date was originally set for all vehicles manufactured after September 1, 2010. In 2008, NHTSA moved the date to September 1, 2012. In 2014 another rule update for vehicle manufacturers was carried out until September 1, 2014, but this rule was never published.

criticism

privacy

Despite warnings and notes in the vehicle operating instructions, many drivers are not familiar with the recording options of their vehicle. Civil liberties and privacy groups have raised concerns about the impact of data recorder espionage on car users, particularly as the "who owns the data" issue has not been fully addressed. There has been some controversy over the use of recorded data as evidence in court and for insurance claims against the driver of a vehicle that has crashed. However, the use of EDR data in civil and criminal cases is increasing as it is increasingly accepted as a source of reliable empirical evidence in accident reconstruction .

Fourteen US states have EDR-specific statutes. In general, these state laws restrict access to the EDR or restrict the use of recovered EDR information.

On December 4, 2015, the Federal Driver Privacy Act of 2015 came into force in the USA. It states that the owner or lessee of a motor vehicle is the owner of the data collected by the EDR. To access this data, an investigator would (1) need to be approved by a court or judicial or administrative authority, subject to the standards for admission to evidence; (2) obtain written, electronic, or recorded consent from the vehicle owner or renter; (3) conduct an investigation or inspection approved by federal law; (4) demonstrate the need to facilitate medical care in response to a car accident; or (5) conduct research in the field of road safety as long as the owner / renter's personal information is not disclosed.

Data validity

The EDR specialist Wesley Vandiver summarized in his lecture 2016:

"• The acquisition of EDR data replaces nothing in an investigation ..... absolutely nothing.
  • Any EDR data obtained should be considered 'more' evidence, not 'replacement' evidence.
  • Sometimes extra information raises additional questions ..... that's life!
  • Depending on your definition, sometimes the [EDR] data may be 'wrong'. "

This means that data from an EDR cannot replace conventional accident reconstruction and must be carefully validated.

Obviously there are basically also possibilities that stored data can be manipulated afterwards.

Use as evidence in court

There have been a number of lawsuits involving EDRs in the United States and Canada. Drivers were convicted and exonerated based on EDR evidence.

Examples:

  • In New South Wales , Australia, a juvenile (female probationary driver) was found guilty of "causing death / serious injury" dangerous driving in 2005. Evidence from the Peugeot EDR showed that the car exceeded the speed limit. An injunction against the use of EDR evidence brought by the owner of the car (the defendants' parents) has been overturned in the NSW Supreme Court.
  • In Quebec , Canada, the driver of a car that passed a red light , crashed into another car at the intersection and killed the other driver was convicted of "dangerous driving" in 2001 after EDR information revealed it was him , not the deceased driver of the other car (as the defendant claimed) who was racing. There were no other witnesses to the accident.
  • The first such use of EDR evidence in the UK was at Birmingham Crown Court during the trial of Antonio Boparan-Singh, who was driving a Range Rover Sport in 2006 when it collided with a Jeep. A girl was paralyzed in the accident and the driver, who was 19 at the time of the incident, was sentenced to 21 months in prison. The EDR evidence enabled investigators to determine that the driver was accelerating at 72 mph in a 30 mph zone.
  • In Germany, the Bochum Regional Court ruled on November 7th, 2016 (AZ 5 O 291/15) that "with regard to the evaluation of this data [of the EDR] there are no data protection concerns".

Although EDR evidence can be valuable in traffic accident litigation, the main purpose of an EDR is to improve driver safety and not provide data for accident reconstruction, and courts should consider the limitations of EDR data in determining the cause of traffic accidents .

Differentiation from accident data storage

An Accident Data Recorder (UDS ) is an independent, retrofittable electronic device that records relevant data before, during and after a traffic accident. Differences to the EDR are not only in the recording quality and duration, but also in a. in that an EDR is usually implemented as an additional function in an existing control unit. The EDR must be integrated in hardware and software into the intended control device by the vehicle manufacturer or its supplier during development. From a physical point of view, however, the UDS is a device that can be installed separately in any vehicle (retrospectively) with proprietary, vehicle-independent sensors.

There is often no clear distinction between the terms accident data storage and event data recorder - even by vehicle manufacturers themselves in their operating instructions or by journalists.

Video Event Data Recorder

A video event data recorder (VEDR) is a device that records video inside a vehicle to generate accident reports and evaluate driver and vehicle behavior.

See also

Web links

Commons : Event Data Recorders  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Aaron Larson: What is an Automobile Black Box. In: ExpertLaw. Retrieved June 18, 2017 .
  2. ↑ IEEE 1616-2004 - IEEE Standard for Motor Vehicle Event Data Recorder (MVEDR). In: IEEE. February 10, 2005, accessed October 5, 2018 .
  3. ↑ a b c 49 CFR 563.7. (PDF) In: US Government Printing Office. Retrieved June 18, 2017 .
  4. ↑ David Hench: 'Black boxes' in cars capture data, and the truth. Portland Press Herald, March 2, 2015, accessed June 18, 2017 .
  5. ^ Dennis F. Andrews, Rudy Limpert: Electronic Control Module Data in Large Truck Collision Analysis. (PDF) In: PC Brake. 2013, accessed June 19, 2017 .
  6. ^ Robert Bosch: Diesel Fuel Injection . Bosch Technical Instruction, 1997, ISBN 1-56091-542-0 .
  7. ↑ Paul Menig, Cary Cover Dill: Transportation recorder on Commercial Vehicles. (PDF) Freightliner Corporation, 1999, accessed September 24, 2018 .
  8. ↑ Andrew Askland: The Double Edged Sword did is the Event Data Recorder . In: Temple Journal of Science, Technology and Environmental Law . tape XXV , no. 1 , 2006, p. 1–14 ( temple.edu [PDF; accessed June 18, 2017]).
  9. ↑ Daniel Engber: The Ferrari That Split in Half. In: Slate.com. April 18, 2006, accessed February 24, 2010 .
  10. ^ NHTSA EDR Working Group, Event Data Recorders, Final Report, August 2001, p. 6.
  11. ↑ Oliver Brockmann, Michael Nugel: Accident Reconstruction Using EDR - An Interdisciplinary Consideration. In: Journal for Damage Law . 2016, p. 64 ff. , Accessed on September 24, 2018 .
  12. ↑ Indy race cars are equipped with Crash Data Recorders to improve safety. (PDF) Instrumented Sensor Technology, Inc., August 7, 2001, accessed June 19, 2017 .
  13. ^ The Analysis of Accident Data Recorder (ADR) Data in Formula 1 - Peter G. Wright, SAE Technical Paper, November 13, 2000.
  14. ↑ Deborah Sharp: Autos' black-box data turning up in courtrooms. USA Today, May 15, 2003; accessed February 22, 2010 .
  15. ↑ Richard Ruth: EDR Update 2018. (PDF) In: Symposium on Traffic Safety, Orlando (Florida). May 21, 2018, accessed September 24, 2018 .
  16. ↑ boschdiagnostics.com
  17. ↑ Fred Lambert: Tesla releases new tool for people to retrieve 'blackbox data' after a crash. Electrek, March 6, 2018, accessed September 25, 2018 .
  18. ^ David Hynd, Mike McCarthy: Study on the benefits resulting from the installation of Event Data Recorders. (PDF) TRL, 2014, accessed on September 25, 2018 .
  19. ↑ Public Consultation on the revision of the Vehicle General Safety Regulation and the Pedestrian Safety Regulation - Background document. (PDF) European Commission , Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, accessed on October 24, 2018 .
  20. ↑ General Safety Regulation and Pedestrian Safety - Regulation Review of the Regulations - Safety Way forward. (PDF) European Commission , Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, accessed on October 24, 2018 .
  21. ↑ EDRfinder.com. Retrieved July 27, 2019 .
  22. ↑ EDRfinder.com. Retrieved July 27, 2019 .
  23. ↑ gpo.gov
  24. ↑ nhtsa.gov
  25. ↑ 49 CFR 563.3 - Application. Retrieved May 7, 2018 .
  26. ^ "Black Boxes" in Passenger Vehicles: Policy Issues. (PDF) Retrieved May 7, 2018 .
  27. ↑ Mary-Rose Abraham: Is That a 'Black Box' in Your Car? In: ABC News. February 22, 2010, accessed February 22, 2010 .
  28. ^ Joseph C. Baiocco, Samuel A. Shusterhoff: Driver Privacy Act of 2015 Addresses Privacy Concerns for Data Collected on Event Data Recorder. In: The National Law Review. March 2, 2016, accessed May 7, 2018 .
  29. ^ Wesley E. Vandiver: Event Data Recorder Anomalies and Limitations: Can EDRs Be Wrong? Lecture at the World Reconstruction Exposition 2016 (WREX 2016) in Orlando, Florida (USA), 2-4. May 2016.
  30. ↑ Dieter Spaar: The hidden black box in the car - airbags collect driving data . In: c't . October 12, 2018, p. 180.
  31. ↑ How car's black box trapped speeding Rich List heir who left baby paralysed in Range Rover crash. London Evening Standard, April 3, 2008, accessed February 3, 2010 .
  32. ↑ Detlef Burhoff: Accident manipulation? - the data of the Electronic Data Recorder (also) speak for it. In: Burhoff online blog. March 4, 2017. Retrieved September 24, 2018 .
  33. ↑ Aaron Larson, Use of Automobile Black Box Data in Court. ExpertLaw, April 13, 2018, accessed September 24, 2017 .