funkymonkey1111

I did a search and couldn't find the answer in the forum. Does anyone know if the 350 has a vehicle data recorder installed anywhere? For those of you that are unfamiliar, this recorder is like an airliner's "black box." It is significant in that if your car is involved in a wreck, your speed and other data is easily downloaded by a repair shop for analysis.

I saw a 20/20 (or Dateline, 48 hours?) feature about these devices in certain GM SUV's.

bigdaddy

iTrader: (3)

only GM (almost all '96 and newer) and Ford (some 2000 and newer) have data recorders that can be easily downloaded by anyone. in fact, you can by the hardware and software that does it from www.vetronix.com. they are the only manufacturer and have a monopoly on this $3500 product.

the data recorders are actually the airbag deployment computers.

as far as nissans go, only nissan engineers will have the capability to downloand anything from the airbag computers, if these computers record anything at all. i don't know outright whether or not our airbag computers have the ability to record, but i can assure you that no one outside NNA has the ability to get at the info.

Paul_BB_Guy

Very interesting. This site brings up all kinds of "enemy of the state" type thoughts.

http://www.vetronix.com./diagnostics...icle_list.html

funkymonkey1111

I'm glad to hear there's no such data recorder per se on the 350, but let me tell you, if there's forensic information out there (or "in there") that can assist in determining crash origin factors, a subpoena would easily "encourage" Nissan engineers to cough up the info.

thanks for the article posts.

jmagilto2

Hello all,
I believe that the 'data recorders' everyone are referring to are actually the telemetry registers of the OBDII system (Freeze-Frame Data). This is a standardized system accessible via the OBDII connector in each car sold in the US. This is the port for communications with Engine Management, Anti-Lock brakes, and Air Bag computers.

As I understand the standards definitons regarding the implementations of these systems on all cars, the system will store telemetry around every major 'event'.

So, if your check engine light comes on (for instance) and you have the el-cheapo scan-tool, you can examine and reset the code that triggered it. If you have the really expensive scan tool (OTC) you can get the data from every engine sensor - including vehicle speed - from the freeze-frame data which were stored in the OBDII event registers at the moment the code was triggered.

If the event is an air bag deployment, the same holds true. The air bag computer also records the accerometer measurements at the moment of deployment. It is possible to consrtuct an instantaneous picture of what the car was doing at the moment of the crash from this data.

IE: Officer. I stopped for the stop sign, the other car was nowhere in sight. When I proceeded thru the intersection he came out of nowhere!

ABS Computer: Vehicle Speed 65mph at time of deployment.

So you can see why people may be getting upset. Their cars can testify against them. The Z has this capability as does every car manufactured for sale in the continental US since 1996. I believe there are some privacy issues with regard to this data that are presently being sorted out.

Dont fret- it gets worse. It will not be long now before EVERY car is outfitted with GPS. GPS can be used to determine what road is being driven upon, how fast a vehicle is being driven, and what the posted speed limit is on the road where the vehicle is driving using TODAY's technology.

Remember Sly stalone getting automated tickets for swearing, its coming people, and they way I drive, I will have LOTS of toilet paper.

Superfly84zx

My buddy with a honda civic thought it would be a good idea to pull the fuse on his odometer for highway trips to save a few miles from hassling his lease. Turns out that his car has somekind of monitoring system...his friend who owns a fleet of transport trucks has this machine to find out all kinds of info from your car...averages for all kinds of stuff, speed, number of starts I think, MILEAGE...even though his odometer was reading say 10000 this machine said screw that 15000!!!...

Let's just say he doesn't pull his fuse anymore...

jrofman

I thought it was illegal to mess with an odometer.

jimmyfknmood

Yeha, it is illegal.

The only way to stop the odo is to pull the vehicle speed sensor going to the PCM. Even then, the PCM is smart enough to know the speed sensor is broken/not attached, and turns on the check engine light. You may purchace a different ratio gear for most speed sensors so the car thinks it's going slower than it really is, therefore reducing the indicated mileage without tripping a fault code.

As far as telemetery, or "freeze frames", every OBD II compliant car will record what the car was doing at the time of any event (as the poster said above.) This includes any event that trips the Check Engine light, and some that don't. Any generic "scan tool" will read out speed, rpm, oil pressure, throttle position, water temperature, and fuel trim to name some of the parameters I can remeber off the top of my head. What is somewhat scary, is that many vehicles now record what the car was doing up to 10 seconds before the airbag deploys, allowing law enforcement to reconstruct accident scenes very easily.

Most manufacturers add all kinds of extensions to the OBD II protocal that allow them to record/read information and run diagnostic tests, beyond what is in the generic OBD II set. These manufacturer specific scan tools are many thousands of dollars and usually only available to authorized dealer service shops.

If your check engine light comes on after playing red-line tag at 120mph, you might want to make sure to clear the "freeze frame" with a scan tool before bringing it to the dealer. I'm not sure if the dealer has the capability to "undo" a fault code clear, but I wouldn't be suprised. Big brother is watching......

Paul_BB_Guy

Hey Jim,

How do you clear the Freeze Frame?

jimmyfknmood

You need a generic OBD II scan tool that supports viewing/clearing of trouble codes and freeze frames. I've had good luck with a tool from Auterra Systems, (www.auterraweb.com) but I think the price of the tool has gone up a bit since I purchased it.

I know most auto stores now sell OBD II tools, you can probalby find a cheap one there, just make sure it can clear codes and freeze frames as well



-Jim

Paul_BB_Guy

Yeah, $290USD ain't cheap.