Black box in your car?

[nixy]

I was flicking through a handbook of another car last night (yes I know sad) and on a section regarding the engine management system it said that in the event of a collision or near collision a Jaguar dealer could download information such as how fast you were going, if you and/or passengers were wearing seatbelts, if you were applying brakes, if you were applying accelerator etc etc. It said they needed the owners permission to gather the info unless requested by a law enforcement officer.

 

I didn't realise they could do all that! Is this a common thing on modern cars now?

[martinmac]

Yep Nic, dealers can also determine your speed and pretty well tell if you having been driving " in a spirited fashion" which could lead to cancellation of warrant. The GT-R has a very comprehensive logging system I recall.

[Stew]

The McLaren F1 road car (I know it's a bit different) used to log and automatically send to the factory so they could monitor and I believe, have tweaks ready to suit the driving style next time someone saw it.

 

Pretty cool if used like that. Crap if they say - you thrashed it, warranty won't cover it!

[martinmac]

Think the porkers can log GPS data too to tell which "private road" you were driving on too.

[nixy]

I was thinking more if you were going to say something along the lines of "yes officer I was doing 60" but the information in the car's brain says something else!

[martinmac]

I was thinking more if you were going to say something along the lines of "yes officer I was doing 60" but the information in the car's brain says something else!

 

Dont think the police are allowed to access this yet unless it is part of a larger investigation. Only time will tell though. If the government have their way we will all have GPS trackers to assess road tax, its a very simple progression from there to passive speed monitoring