According to announcements made by the U.S. government, next month the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) will be making an official announcement to make Event Data Recorders (EDR’s) mandatory on vehicles. The bill was proposed by Senator Tom Udall last year, after problems of unintended acceleration on Toyota vehicles.

The information stored by the EDR’s will record a short period of data starting from just before the accident to just shortly after. It will be used by state authorities to determine the cause of the crash, by the NHTSA to compile real world statistics and by American automobile manufacturers to help them understand crashes and how they take place.

Not everyone agrees with mandatory EDR’s. Critics say that the boxes will make the purchase of vehicles more expensive for consumers, while privacy experts question how the information will be used. They say that small modification to the EDR’s could allow your driving to be monitored all the time. Police would be able to issue speeding tickets without actually being at the scene, or insurance companies to judge your driving before they determine your rates. Some feel that the information could go as far as to be used to track a drivers every move.