Big Jimm

As I understand it, some cars are being built with “Black Boxes” and some
aren’t. (The box that shows many things .. like the speed you were going at
the time of an accident, etc.)

Just wondering, does anyone know how many Lexus’ have this black box? All,
none, some? It seems to be very secretive .. mostly between insurance
companies and law enforcement. (And maybe others.)

I have OnStar in my C6 and Caddy. I’m told that OnStar REALLY provides
surveillance and even records conversations in the car. Even when it’s not
turned on! I know OnStar isn’t the “black box” but it, too, can provide
personal information that an owner might not want revealed.

Doesn’t Lexus have something similar to OnStar? Or, maybe I’m thinking of
MB. It’s my understanding that by 2008, ALL cars must have “black boxes”
whether we want them or not.

Big Jimm
So. Fla.

koolaidman

all lexus have what u call black box. all it does is recored data list in an event of an accident. only stores info when airbags get deployed
data list it more than likly provides mph, brake input, abs input, steering angles(not on all cars), and probabbly more. i havent seen the data yet but that what they will be looking at it if the data ever needs to be used. especially mph brake input and abs

and lexus did have something simlar to on-star witch was lexus link. but currently lexus link is not operational. there is some talks about starting up lexus link again but as of right now. no.

Stevekil

Thats true. Black box will be a feature on Lexus. Anything with wireless transmitter is a suspect. Whether its your car, computer, cell phone. The days of Privacy are gone.

Millions of couples have had intimate moments in their first car. Now it is very risky business. Same with accidents and road rage.

The positive side is that drug dealers may be caught using these boxes in future.

encore888

I seriously hope that 'Big Brother in your car' extends to the black box only (for accidents) and not anything more. OnStar better not be recording occupant activities unless it is on and asked to do so...

Lexus Link is back with the New LS as an option:

koolaidman

i would imagine if it was recording u with out u knowing would be breaking some sort of privacy laws

sahtt

This is very old news to those that are well informed. There is tons of information out there on it if you care to learn it. To sum it up, I'll NEVER have a car with OnStar and I'll rip it out if they manage to stick them in every car. After being in the M3 community in the early 2000's when BMW first started declining warranty work due to driving styles [# of redlines in a given month automatically declines you from warranty work as it classifies as abuse, yet they never tell you that do they?], it has only got worse.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

Pretty soon you're going to have to sign something when you buy a car which states you intend to read the manual cover to cover (which few ever do) and in that manual will be lots of fine print about data collection and 'intended' uses.

But cars that sense their surroundings (the LS has tons of sensors) and can react accordingly, and learn through experience (ECU, etc.) mean there's a TON of data floating around, some of which gets stored. Some is innocuous in INTENT but can easily be used against you. For example the nav system keeps track of miles and miles of driving, and prior destinations, etc. All this could easily be used forensically.

So while the car may not be TRANSMITTING to 3rd parties, basically the entire car is a black box! If you don't like it, you'd better buy something older.

Kepeli

It's a law now, all car manufacturers have to inform you if your car has an EDR. I think my Honda Ridgeline had this in the manual.

Nextourer

In that case, they need a lower redline haha. Wasn't the M3 designed to be a production race car? I mean the racing versions are more or less stock. What's the point of an M3 if it's not driven? BMW wants people to buy their cars for show?

dfiorito

Guess you need to drive a different car when committing a crime. LOL