Police to analyze car ‘black boxes’

Jen Lawson

Friday, Jan. 30, 2004 | 11:10 a.m.

Metro Police will soon be turning more frequently to a silent, hidden witness when investigating unusually serious or puzzling vehicle crashes.

"Black boxes," devices that are somewhat similar to data recorders in aircraft, capture information about the inner workings of a vehicle five seconds before the air bags are activated. That information can tell police what led up to a crash and help determine who was at fault.

Metro's fatal crash detail has applied for an Office of Traffic Safety grant to purchase a $2,495 crash data retrieval system that will allow detectives to collect and download the information from the devices.

"It's really amazing," Detective Doug Nutton said. "It's an evolving technology like DNA was to the fingerprint. It just makes what we do that much stronger."

Most newer cars have these devices, known as "event data recorders." They are usually tucked under one of the front seats. It's neither black nor is it a box; it's silver and about the size of a pack of cigarettes.

It records the vehicle's speed, engine RPM, position of the gas pedal and brake and whether seat belts were used, among other statistics, in the final seconds before a crash, or from the moment the car sends a signal to the air bag that it should be activated, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Car manufacturers began installing some form of the data recorders in the early 1990s, and they were meant for use in product liability suits and in designing safer cars.

Four years ago, Vetronix Corp. in Santa Barbara, Calif. developed a crash data retrieval system in cooperation with General Motors, which allowed the data on the devices to be read by third parties, such as police and insurance companies.

Since then, Ford and Isuzu have also made the black box data on some of their models available through the Vetronix system, according to the company's website.

If Toyota allowed their data recorders to be read, police might have had more solid details about exactly what happened when a 2002 Toyota Camry plunged off the fourth floor of the Golden Nugget's parking garage last week. The crash killed the 83-year-old driver and 79-year-old passenger.

But Nutton said field work has painted a pretty clear picture: The driver, George Yago, apparently mistook the gas pedal for the brake pedal and drove about 3 feet at around 10 mph, which was enough force to break through the wall.

Since the crash didn't involve anyone who could have been charged criminally, it's likely police wouldn't have tapped into the data recorder even if the Toyota had one that was readable, he said.

The North Las Vegas Police Department is the only Southern Nevada law enforcement agency equipped with the technology needed to read nonencrypted data recorders.

The department got its system about a year ago, spokesman Officer Justin Roberts said, and it's available to any local police departments that needs it. His department uses it once or twice a month when investigating serious crashes or ones in which someone will be prosecuted.

Nutton and the other detectives who investigate crashes were trained on how to use the technology last year. They've borrowed North Las Vegas' equipment about 15 or 20 times, he said.

It works like this: The crash data retrieval device gets plugged into the black box and the information is downloaded onto a laptop computer via a Windows-based software program. The data is displayed in charts and graphs.

Officers must get a search warrant to collect the data from the driver who might be at fault, said Bruce Nelson, deputy district attorney in the vehicular crimes unit.

Metro hasn't bought the system because the department has other priorities, such as getting more officers on the streets, department officials said. Nutton said he expects to find out if the grant was approved by the summer.

He sees it as a way to strengthen officers' field work, not as a substitute for it.

"We can say, 'This is my map, this is my homework, and by the way, we downloaded this data to back it up,"' Nutton said.

So far, data from the devices hasn't found its way into any Clark County courtrooms, probably because the technology is so new, Nelson said.

However, it has been tested in at least two court cases in Florida and Illinois.

"We'll probably see some cases coming up," Nelson said. "It will definitely be helpful for both sides. It will allow us get a more accurate picture of what occurred."

Insurance companies are also finding the crash data recorder a valuable tool in investigating crashes.

Sharon Rorman is the spokeswoman for the Nevada Insurance Council, a nonprofit consumer education organization. She said the data recorders "can make for a faster and higher-quality settlements in terms of claims."

But not everyone likes the idea of a little computerized snoop in their car.

Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Electronic Privacy Information Center, said he would like to see legislation that would require car manufacturers to tell car buyers that the device exists and what it can do.

"The basic concern is that car owners shouldn't have to worry that a car is spying on them," Rotenberg said in a phone interview. "It's our view that until privacy standards are established, we don't think they should be installed. ... The privacy rules don't exist yet."