Mandatory "Event Data Recorders" will even know you're speeding in reverse.

[FiReSTaRT]

Do they actually give you a hassle when you request it to have it disabled with a proof?

Your best bet is to DIY based on published information (assuming it's correct)

[Flywheel]

From what I've read, GM dealers are reluctant to disable or tamper with the OnStar unit. Most customers probably don't even consider the implications. The real problem arrives when they start integrating it into the ECU or some other subsystem, then any easy DIY method vanishes.

[FiReSTaRT]

From what I've read, GM dealers are reluctant to disable or tamper with the OnStar unit. Most customers probably don't even consider the implications. The real problem arrives when they start integrating it into the ECU or some other subsystem, then any easy DIY method vanishes.

If it isn't there already. I see the ECU aftermarket growing in near future at least until they become illegal because some drug dealer/child molester/hacker/media boogeyman used an aftermarket ECU to avoid government surveillance.

[kira0202]

If anyone has bothered to read the bill that was passed by the US Senate, it contains specific mention of the privacy issues associated with the EDR data. It is only supposed to be collected with a court order in hand (i.e. in the process of criminal investigation after a serious collision). It is NOT supposed to be accessible by your insurance company. It is NOT supposed to be accessible by a police officer who has pulled you over for a traffic stop.

According to Popular Mechanics, lawyers use event data recorder crash data in court cases to demonstrate driver behavior during an accident. During the Toyota unintended acceleration recall debacle, an attorney for the automaker used EDR data to show that it was driver error that caused one high-profile crash, rather than mechanical error. Article source: The event data recorder: Saving lives and invading privacy

[viper84737]

If anyone has bothered to read the bill that was passed by the US Senate, it contains specific mention of the privacy issues associated with the EDR data. It is only supposed to be collected with a court order in hand (i.e. in the process of criminal investigation after a serious collision). It is NOT supposed to be accessible by your insurance company. It is NOT supposed to be accessible by a police officer who has pulled you over for a traffic stop.

According to Popular Mechanics, lawyers use event data recorder crash data in court cases to demonstrate driver behavior during an accident. During the Toyota unintended acceleration recall debacle, an attorney for the automaker used EDR data to show that it was driver error that caused one high-profile crash, rather than mechanical error. Article source: The event data recorder: Saving lives and invading privacy

I think the better response being: "If anyone bothered to read the US Constitution, the USA PATRIOT Act wouldn't exist in the first place.", or something like that. If the data is being recorded, there's a non-zero chance it can be used against you in a surprising manner. Why voluntarily expose yourself to that risk? European Jews learned this lesson in the 1930s, just before some minor events in history people have already forgotten about. There weren't any important lessons about privacy in those events, were there? Crap, I just can't remember and simply am too stupid to care.

Imagine they start mandating putting stuff like this into the home to "protect you from falling down the stairs". I mean if we find someone at the bottom of the stairs, we would surely like to know what happened, right? So hey, let's just monitor everyone's actions ALL THE TIME, so "the authorities" can find out! Good idea, yes, yes, people in positions of authority are default trustable! While we're at it, we should publish our personal financial records, too! You know, in case someone out there MIGHT be buying something questionable. I'm so scared of life and risk and uncertainty that I need to bend over and give authorities full access to my rectum so they can pretend to be able to protect me from those things while I remain completely oblivious to all of the fringe benefits at my expense they get in doing so.

Space has a terrible secret. Aren't you glad they're here to protect us from the terrible secret of space?

[Brian P]

Don't forget that EDR's first started showing up to TO PROTECT THE AUTO MANUFACTURERS FROM LAWSUITS. Emphasis deliberate.

If Toyota had not been able to show that drivers were pressing the accelerator rather than the brake, where would they be now?

Audi already went through the "sudden acceleration" situation, which destroyed their reputation for no reason in the 1980's. Same underlying reason - pedal mis-application, and the people doing the mis-applying refuse to believe that they're doing it until shown the proof. That situation pre-dated EDR's but demonstrated in no uncertain way that the auto manufacturers needed to keep track of the last few seconds before a collision TO PROTECT THEMSELVES FROM LIABILITY in lawsuit-happy America.

"The airbag exploded for no reason and then I crashed" ... uuuuummmm, no, you were on the gas until the speed signal started going all whacko (because you left the road) and then there was a major impact where you hit that tree and THEN the airbag went off. Feeling a little sleepy, perhaps?

"The car rolled over and the airbag never went off!" ... yep, none of the G-sensors recorded an impact severe enough to warrant setting them off, so they did exactly what they were supposed to do.

"The car accelerated by itself!" ... uuuuummm, no, the accelerator was at 100% for 4 seconds prior to impact and the brakes were never applied, and we know the brake sensor is working because the brakes had been applied 10 seconds before that without issue and it's still working after the crash.

Stuff like that is the original purpose of EDR's and if Americans weren't so prone to blaming everything except themselves when something goes wrong, maybe we wouldn't be having this situation.