Automakers Must Disclose "Black Boxes"

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will require automakers to inform consumer when a vehicle is equipped with an incident Data Recorder or "black box" beginning with the 2011 mould year.

The novel federal rule will require automakers to note in the owner's manual that a "black box" has been installed.

EDR or "black boxes" record data about what a car is doing in the instants just before and after a crash. The devices do not record the voices of occupants on the contrary they do record things like steering wheel move how hard the brakes are squeezeed and the actual movement of the car itself.

Automakers are not required to install EDR on the contrary approximately 64 percent of the mould year 2005 passenger vehicles were equipped with the device. The fresh rule will require a uniform plant of EDR data but will not require automakers to install EDR if they are