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Event Data Recorder (EDR) Links:
 
 

The following links are offered as resources pertaining to current EDR and other related information.

EDR CASE LAW :
 EDR data has been admitted successfully in many criminal and civil proceedings. To my knowledge, the court has never excluded the data but one court said that the data could not be used as evidence alone without expert testimony to validate or interpret it. The court has stricken some purported experts as not being experts. See the October 2007 decision by the Massachusetts Court of Appeals upholding admissibility of EDR evidence.
A list of known cases contributed by the engineers who worked on them or became aware of them is maintained by Jim Harris, of Harris Technical Services. This list is not represented to be a complete list, it is only as good as the diligence of the contributors, but is the best reference list that I am aware of. The links below are to the Harris site.
        EDR Case Law
        State Statutes


NEW NHTSA EDR RULE:
Highlights: Light vehicles built after Sept. 2010 must comply with 49 CFR Part 563 , which states it if any one of the items in Table 1 is recorded then they all must be recorded and in accordance with the requirements in Table 1 and Table III. If the manufacturer records any data element in Table II then it must be recorded in accordance with the requirements in Table II and Table III. The recorder must survive in NHTSA’s 30mph barrier crash. The manufacturer must release the ability to read the data publicly within 90 days of the first public sale of the vehicle. The manufacturer may specify the readout procedure.

The link below takes you to the complete rule. The rule is 207 pages long. The beginning part states NHTSA’s rationale for the rule and discusses at great length the comments received to the 2004 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. The actual rules not start until Page 187 with the vehicle requirements starting on page 196.
      www.nhtsa.gov

The Association of International Automobile Manufacturers (AIAM) has petitioned for reconsideration of the proposed timing, and to revise the requirements in Table III from RECORDING requirements to REPORTING requirements, and other items. NHTSA is expected to grant relief on at least some of their requests, currently projected for June 2007. The Association petition can be accessed below:
      EDR petition


VETRONIX:
Vetronix is a company in the ETAS group of the Robert Bosch Corporation that makes automotive test equipment such as the GM Tech service tool. Vetronix makes the Crash Data Retrieval (CDR) system use to retrieve EDR data from vehicles. Currently just over 20% of the vehicles on the road are supported by the Vetronix tool – most GM products and some selected 2001 and later Ford products. The list of vehicles which are already publicly supported can be viewed at the Vetronix website at the link below. Other manufacturers are signing up with Vetronix currently and the remainder will be required in the future by NHTSA to release the ability to read their data to at least one publicly available provider.      
      Vetronix Supported Vehicles List

 
 
FORD Vehicles currently not supported by VETRONIX:
Under some circumstances Ford may be willing to download EDR’s for Ford vehicles that are not supported by Vetronix. Please contact me for a free consultation, and if your case is likely to meet Ford’s criteria, I will email you the Ford contact information. Some modules may also be in the middle of the release process, and there may be a beta test version of the Vetronix software that covers the model that is not yet publicly available. I may have access to the beta test version. The intent of the consultation is to advise you of your options and recommend the option most likely to produce results in the timeframe you need.
Other Vehicles not currently supported by VETRONIX:
Some additional manufacturers are currently going through the release process with Vetronix. Sometimes there may be a beta test version available to selected Vetronix trainers such as myself that could work on your vehicle. If the vehicle you are interested in is not currently supported by Vetronix, it does not mean that there is not any data available. Many manufacturers have data in recent models but do not readily acknowledge it. Some manufacturers will respond to a properly fashioned discovery request from legal counsel or law enforcement. I may be able to assist you in how to fashion your request to be more likely to get a response. Contact me for a free consultation.

Richard R. Ruth, P.E. is an instructor for CDR classes offered by Rusty Haight’s Collision Safety Institute.
You can view the latest CDR training class offerings on Rusty’s website at:
  • Collision Safety Institute: www.collisionsafety.net

You can get the latest official Bosch information on CDR and latest software downloads at: 
  •CDR Equipment Description: Bosch ETAS Group, (formerly Vetronix)   

You can purchase Bosch CDR readout equipment through:
  • CDR Equipment Distributor: I Got Hit LLC - (800) 280-7940

  • CDR Operator/Analyst Training: Collision Safety Institute

Get the latest information from cutting edge CDR users and presenters at:
  • 2008 CDR User's Conference: Collision Publishing

Call Ruth Consulting: (313) 910-5809        or Email to: ruthconsulting@comcast.net

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