The use of black boxes in automobiles dates back to the 1990’s when General Motors first installed them on test vehicles to conduct quality studies. Since then, approximately 96% of all new vehicles sold in the United States come equipped with black boxes. The amount of information stored has expanded, letting engineers and researches use the information to study how vehicles perform in the real world and allows them to identify safety problems. Government regulations require that the presence of a black box be disclosed in the vehicle owner’s manual, but most drivers are not aware that they are there, capturing and recording speed, brake position, seat belt use, etc… every time they get behind the wheel.

The lack of standardization among manufacturers has made it difficult to extract the data. Until recently, crash investigators needed an automaker’s proprietary reader as well as the expertise to analyze the information. Safety regulators are working to enable universal access by using a commercially available standardized tools and are training police departments on the new regulations. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) hopes that by September 2014 it will be mandatory to have black boxes in all new vehicles sold.

Consumer advocates have raised privacy concerns regarding who owns the information stored in black boxes and what it can be used for. They say the data is the latest example of government and companies having too much access to private information and worry that the information could be used against drivers during criminal investigations and civil lawsuits. The information could be made accessible to third parties, including insurance companies that could cancel a driver’s policy or raise a driver’s premium based on the recorder’s data. Data that some say, is not always accurate.