A 'Black Box' for Your Car
The National Transportation Safety Board yesterday recommended that black boxes be required in all new cars and trucks.
Although many drivers don't realize it, most new cars already come equipped with them. The current generation of devices mostly tells whether an air bag inflated before a crash, but more advanced ones also record a host of other data, including the speed of the car, when the driver started to brake, and whether the headlights and driver's seat belt were on.
Currently, about 30 million passenger cars and trucks on the road have black boxes, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates. As many as 90% of all 2004 model vehicles, including all General Motors Co. and most Ford Motor Co. cars, have some sort of recorder, and an even greater percentage will have them in 2005. They are generally part of the front air-bag system.
An officer analyzes a car 'black box'
However, the data collected from these systems vary widely, and because there's no standard technology for accessing the boxes, crash-scene investigators have had difficulty recovering information that could help them determine why an accident occurred.
In addition, the recommendations are raising concerns among privacy advocates, who say the devices record too much information without the driver's knowledge.
In June, the NHTSA proposed standards for all black boxes, requiring them to record 42 separate pieces of information about the car's performance in the final seconds before an accident by 2008. The standards would also require auto makers to make it easier for crash investigators and researchers to access the information and make auto makers inform consumers the systems are in their vehicles.
The federal auto-safety regulator hasn't mandated that the recorders be installed, saying it isn't necessary because auto makers are putting them in most new cars. However, the NTSB, an independent agency that investigates transportation accidents and makes safety recommendations, disagrees, saying that without a mandate, there can be no guarantee that cars will be equipped with the black boxes.
The black boxes on cars are far less sophisticated than those found on commercial airliners and store much less information. They don't, for example, record audio from inside the car. Nor are they actually boxes, but tiny modules attached to electronic sensors embedded in the car that help trigger air bags. Those sensors can also store information about the vehicle's performance in the seconds before a crash.
Because the technology is relatively new and insurers haven't seen how black boxes affect claims history, they haven't had an impact on auto-insurance rates, according to an Insurance Information Institute spokeswoman.
Privacy advocates and consumer groups worry about who owns the information gathered by the recorders. Although police and safety investigators say the information is helpful in reconstructing accidents, it could also be used against drivers in court by insurance companies or lawyers.
In January, California became the first state to regulate black boxes, requiring all cars made after June 2004 to contain information for drivers on the types of information being recorded by their vehicles. The law was passed because of privacy concerns. The law also says consumers control the release of that information, except in a few situations, such as a court order.
"At a minimum, there ought to be something like the California law that says the owners of vehicles have to be told that the recorders are in their cars and should be able to disable them," says Barry Steinhardt, director of technology for the American Civil Liberties Union.
Ford began installing the systems in 1997 on the Econoline full-size van, although they were originally designed for internal use at Ford, so technicians could monitor the vehicle's performance in a crash. "We just wanted to make sure we recorded some information to make sure our vehicles' systems performed correctly in the event of a crash," said Rick Ruth, a Ford design analyst.
Today, most Ford cars now come equipped with sensors that record information on the vehicle's deceleration and air-bag deployment in a crash.
A few Ford vehicles, including the Lincoln LS, F series pickups, Thunderbird and Explorer, have a more advanced recorder that's part of an electronic throttle system that also stores vehicle speed and braking information for the last five seconds before a crash. In 2005, Ford's Navigator, Expedition, E series vans and Aviator will also have the system.
All General Motors vehicles have had the recorders since 2000, the company says.
The safety board made the recommendation Tuesday during a hearing about a 2003 crash involving an 86-year-old driver who lost control of his car and drove into a farmer's market in Los Angeles, killing 10 people and injuring 63 others. The driver's lawyers refused to allow NTSB investigators to interview him, since there are several lawsuits pending, according to the safety board. If the man's 1992 Buick LeSabre had come equipped with an event data recorder, investigators might have been able to explain why the accident happened, said Joe Osterman, the NTSB's director of highway safety.
给你的汽车装“黑匣子”
美国全国运输安全委员会(National Transportation Safety Board, 简称NTSB)于8月3日建议，所有新出厂的小轿车和卡车都应当安装上黑匣子。
可能许多司机都还不知道，大多数新车实际上已经装配了黑匣子。目前使用的车载黑匣子大多都可以记录撞车前安全气囊是否已及时打开，更新型的黑匣子还可以记录许多其他数据，例如车速，司机开始刹车的时间，大灯是否打开，司机有没有系好安全带等等。
根据美国全国高速公路交通安全委员会(National Highway Traffic Safety Administration)的估算，目前已有大约3,000万辆装配了黑匣子的轿车和卡车已投入使用。2004年出厂的汽车，包括通用汽车(General Motors Co.)生产的所有轿车，以及大部分福特汽车(Ford Motor Co.)生产的轿车都装配了某种记录仪，总体配置率高达90%。2005年这个比例还会更高。这些仪器总的来说都是前置安全气囊的一部分。
但是，这些系统搜集得来的数据大相径庭，而且也没有一套评估黑匣子数据的标准技术，因此车祸现场的调查人员很难得到那些有助于确认车祸原因的数据。
此外，全国运输安全委员会的建议还引起了那些主张个人隐私的人士更大的担忧。他们认为，这些仪器在司机不知情的情况下记录了太多信息。
今年6月，NHTSA提出了一套评估所有黑匣子数据的标准，要求在2008年之前，这些仪器要能够在车祸前最后几秒钟记录42条独立的车辆行驶信息。这套标准也可能要求汽车生产商开发出便于车祸调查和研究人员获得信息的黑匣子，要求生产商告知消费者这些仪器的存在。
联邦车辆安全监管机构尚未强制要求生产商安装记录仪，称大多数生产商已经在新车上安装了这类设备，因此无需强制执行。但作为调查交通事故并提供安全建议的独立机构，全国运输安全委员会不同意这么做。它认为，如果不强制执行的话，就不能够保证所有汽车都安装上黑匣子。
车载黑匣子远没有飞机上的黑匣子那么复杂，存储的数据也少得多。例如，车载黑匣子就不会记录司机或乘客的谈话内容。把它们称之为黑匣子也不确切，实际上它们是一些微型模块，附著在触发安全气囊的电子传感器上。这些传感器也能够在车祸发生前几秒钟记录车辆行驶信息。
保险资讯中心(Insurance Information Institute)发言人称，这是一项相对较新的技术，保险商们还没有看到这些黑匣子对车祸理赔的影响，所以还没有影响到汽车保险费率。
主张保护个人隐私的团体和消费者组织担心的是谁是这些信息的拥有者。虽然警察和安全调查人员说这些信息有助于重现车祸场景，但也可能被保险公司和律师们利用，在法庭上作为不利于司机的证据。
今年1月份，加州率先通过了一项法令，要求所有2004年6月以后出厂的汽车都要装配黑匣子，记录与车辆行驶有关的各项信息。这项法令由于对隐私权的关注而获得通过，并称信息的公布由消费者决定，只有法庭命令等少数情况除外。
美国公民自由联盟(American Civil Liberties Union)科技部门主管施泰因哈特(Barry Steinhardt)说，“最低限度，也要有一个类似加州法律的立法，表明车主应当被告知车内安装了信息记录仪，而且车主有权不用。”
虽然最初的设计目的是公司内部使用，福特还是从1997年就开始在Econoline普通型货车上安装这类仪器，便于技师们监控车祸前后的车辆状况。福特的设计分析师露丝(Rick Ruth)说，我们只想确保能够记录一些信息，以便确保福特所产汽车的系统在发生车祸时依然正常运转。
目前，福特生产的大多数轿车都安装了这类传感器，能够记录车祸时车辆减速以及安全气囊打开的信息。
部分福特车型，包括林肯LS(Lincoln LS)、F系列小型货车、雷鸟(Thunderbird)和Explorer等，都安装了更先进的记录仪，这是车辆电控节气门系统的一部分，能够记录车祸前5秒钟内的车速和刹车信息。到2005年，福特领航员(Navigator)、Expedition、E系货车、和Aviator车型也都将安装这套系统。
通用汽车表示，从2000年开始，通用所有汽车均已安装了这类系统。
全国运输安全委员会是周二就2003年一位86岁肇事司机举行听证会时提出上述建议的。当年这名司机驾驶的一辆汽车失控，闯入洛杉矶的一处农庄市场，导致10人死亡，63人受伤。全国运输安全委员会称，因为有好几起案件均待审理，这位的律师拒绝让全国运输安全委员会的调查人员与他交谈。全国运输安全委员会负责高速公路安全的主管奥斯特曼(Joe Osterman)说，如果他驾驶的这辆1992年别克(Buick) LeSabre安装了一套事故数据记录仪的话，调查人员应该已经找到了事故原因。
