Car accidents can be traumatizing for the people involved. What can make them even worse is not knowing what went wrong.
Event data recorders (EDRs) allow investigators to figure out what happened in the seconds before and after an accident. By recording important information like the position of the throttle and the speed of the vehicle, EDRs provide a picture of what happened at the time of an accident.
While automakers have been installing EDRs in most of our cars for years, they're not universal and they're not standardized.
After the Toyota crashes earlier this year, we learned that although their cars are equipped with EDRs, until recently they were only able to be read by one computer in the entire United States.
EDRs need to be mandated and their data needs to be accessible so that automakers can learn from malfunctions.
Today I introduced the VEHICLE Safety Improvements Act which will require the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to make these changes a reality.
This is a simple fix that could save lives. In a 2006 rulemaking, NHTSA found that installing EDRs would cost carmakers little more than $2 per vehicle.
Having EDRs in our vehicles won't prevent crashes, but they will help to determine what caused the crash and, in the case of a vehicle malfunction, help to identify solutions to improve vehicle performance. In the end, the data they provide will serve to ensure a safer travel environment for all.
