black box question, probably a dumb one...

Originally Posted by ncnickusa

This information is taken from the 370Z Owner's manual and can be found in section 9 page 20 Technical and consumer information. Someday a law enforcement person will point and electronic device at your car and your busted! It downloads instantly all the data from you cars EDR. Your VIN number, speed, time of day and so on. Take all this information with a "grain of salt" but be warned. This kind of recorder would almost be useless if it needed an event to set it off. After all a crash could instantly cut the power off. My guess is, it's always recording, maybe only 30 seconds over and over again but still recording. So maybe a warranty buster? maybe. You probably can tell I don't trust what they say about not recording under normal circumstances. I don't, normal might mean when the car is not running, OK just kidding but do read about it so you know.

EVENT DATA RECORDERS (EDR)

This vehicle is equipped with an Event
Data Recorder (EDR). The main purpose of
an EDR is to record, in certain crash or near
crash-like situations, such as an air bag
deployment or hitting a road obstacle, data
that will assist in understanding how a
vehicle’s systems performed. The EDR is
designed to record data related to vehicle
dynamics and safety systems for a short
period of time, typically 30 seconds or less.
The EDR in this vehicle is designed to
record such data as:
. How various systems in your vehicle
were operating;
. Whether or not the driver and passenger
safety belts were buckled/fastened;
. How far (if at all) the driver was
depressing the accelerator and/or
brake pedal; and,
. How fast the vehicle was traveling.
. Sounds are not recorded.
These data can help provide a better
understanding of the circumstances in
which crashes and injuries occur. NOTE:
EDR data are recorded by your vehicle only
if a nontrivial crash situation occurs; no
data are recorded by the EDR under
normal driving conditions and no personal
data (e.g. name, gender, age and crash
location) are recorded. However, other
parties, such as law enforcement, could
combine the EDR data with the type of
personally identifying data routinely acquired
during a crash investigation.
To read data recorded by an EDR, special
equipment is required and access to the
vehicle or the EDR is needed. In addition to
the vehicle manufacturer and NISSAN
dealer, other parties, such as law enforcement,
that have the special equipment, can
read the information if they have access to
the vehicle or the EDR.