What if Black Boxes are made a requirement...

Gaijin · 18 Apr 2006 at 14:01

Lets face it, i'd give it about 6months tops before someone figures out how to "chip" them.

L0rdMike · 18 Apr 2006 at 14:04

Cool I can drive like an idiot and spin my car on roundabouts as long as I dont go over the speed limit. :cool:

Mr_Sukebe · 18 Apr 2006 at 14:13

Strikes me that a lot of accidents are caused by people with bugger all braking distance. If a BB could detect where people were consistently driving too close, that might be useful. Clearly there will always be exceptions where you've just been cut up and it was out of your control, but that is typically for only short periods of time. So it's a question of how the technology will be used, not what the technology is.

bradbcam · 18 Apr 2006 at 14:14

Gaijin said:
Lets face it, i'd give it about 6months tops before someone figures out how to "chip" them.

Or until someone works out that you can plug them into a spare 12v suply and leave them in your garage

TinkerBell · 18 Apr 2006 at 14:17

bradbcam said:
Or until someone works out that you can plug them into a spare 12v suply and leave them in your garage

But surely they would be able to tell that you had been driving the car when they check the milage on it!!

Fulcrum · 18 Apr 2006 at 14:21

A modern ecu can often give evidence as to your driving just before an accident now. If you mean GPS then Honest John pointed out the other day, they cant cope with gradient and so are not accurate for a lot of UK roads

Rich1988 · 18 Apr 2006 at 14:21

TinkerBell said:
But surely they would be able to tell that you had been driving the car when they check the milage on it!!

its possible to clock the milage down more so on newer cars i would have thought being computerised

rare · 18 Apr 2006 at 14:23

Everyone i know who drives would lose their license in a week.

D4VE · 18 Apr 2006 at 14:24

Rich1988 said:
its possible to clock the milage down more so on newer cars i would have thought being computerised

I dont think so. I think the ECU stores the mileage. You can change the clocks, but itll just read the correct mileage again when you switch the car back on.

Firestar_3x · 18 Apr 2006 at 14:32

Fulcrum said:
A modern ecu can often give evidence as to your driving just before an accident now. If you mean GPS then Honest John pointed out the other day, they cant cope with gradient and so are not accurate for a lot of UK roads

If you have a good system that reads the speed pulse and has a gyro you can drive accurately for a good while with no gps signal.

Firestar_3x · 18 Apr 2006 at 14:33

D4VE said:
I dont think so. I think the ECU stores the mileage. You can change the clocks, but itll just read the correct mileage again when you switch the car back on.

Nope, people go round with kit and charge a few 100 to change the digital clocks on your car to read whatever you want.

TinkerBell · 18 Apr 2006 at 14:36

Firestar_3x said:
Nope, people go round with kit and charge a few 100 to change the digital clocks on your car to read whatever you want.

But aren't there ways that you can tell that has been done to the car?

agw_01 · 18 Apr 2006 at 14:37

TinkerBell said:
But aren't there ways that you can tell that has been done to the car?

Doubtful.

ECU's are just like hard disks on computers. They store data. With the right software they're fully accessible from a laptop connected to the car.

TinkerBell · 18 Apr 2006 at 14:38

agw_01 said:
Doubtful.

ECU's are just like hard disks on computers. They store data. With the right software they're fully accessible from a laptop connected to the car.

Now that is interesting.

/wanders off thinking!

Firestar_3x · 18 Apr 2006 at 14:48

I didn't even think it was a function stored on the ECU, when you take the clocks out of the car and move them to another i think the miles will stay on them, leads me to belive its actually stored on a chip on the clocks.

PeterNem · 18 Apr 2006 at 14:51

agw_01 said:
Doubtful.

ECU's are just like hard disks on computers. They store data. With the right software they're fully accessible from a laptop connected to the car.

I know on some BMWs (I think), if the digital clacks have been tampered with then a checksum will not match and a red LED becomes permanently lit on the dash.... so although it can be done, it's probably not as easy on some cars as it is on others.

commited · 18 Apr 2006 at 15:47

It'd make people far too aware of what speed they were doing, and would take focus from the road.

It'd also show that speed isnt the only killer on the roads and the ad makers wouldnt have a clue what to make their next car safety ad. "I know - lets do yet another drink driving ad aimed primarily at youngsters, the older generation grew up with it so they're finnneee" :rolleyes:

They have the blackbox thing over here for one insurer - most of the lads I know with them have them ripped out.

mrgubby · 18 Apr 2006 at 16:00

On the good side though....

It would put up the value of older cars like mine

D4VE · 18 Apr 2006 at 16:06

My mechanic told me he knew someone who changed the clocks on a BMW and when he plugged in the new ones it came straight up with the correct mileage.
I cant say Im 100% sure on this as I wasnt there, but it would make sense as it combats car crime (or helps to)

However, if the mileage is stored on a chip in the clocks and people have to adjust the clocks manually then a very obvious opportunity to combat car crime has been missed - which would be a shame

Rich1988 · 18 Apr 2006 at 16:09

D4VE said:
I dont think so. I think the ECU stores the mileage. You can change the clocks, but itll just read the correct mileage again when you switch the car back on.

just drive vintage cars then

What if Black Boxes are made a requirement...

Man of Honour