Quote:
Originally Posted by b3lha
I have heard about a case where a driver, after an accident, claimed that his car had suddenly accelerated of it's own accord.
But the vehicle manufacturer was able to produce a detailed telemetry log from a hidden black box recorder on the car that showed the driver had been driving excessively fast for the whole journey.
Some manufacturers are fitting "black boxes" to high-performance cars so they can rebut warranty claims when the car has been tuned or abused. Some people adjust the ECU boost maps to get more power. If the engine blows up as a result, they reflash it back to stock and try to claim on the warranty.
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Interesting Phil and not surprising.
My brother works for Renault. Their monitoring systems are now so sophisticated they can tell if you have not used the correct grade oil or have not changed it soon enough and use this to rebut warranty claims. This is happening more frequently now with the new urea injection diesel engines. If the engine breaks or dies because you did not follow maintenance advice or warning lights they will refute your claim and send you a copy of all the information they have on your usage in case you even remotely thought of taking them to court.
I am more troubled by the incoming "Surveillance by stealth" and the spurious justification of it by police on the basis it "can save even one life"
The last remark is in quotes because it is trotted out every year by high ranking police. It is used for
- Reducing the blood/alcohol drink driving limits
- justification for testing people on their way to work the morning after
- justification for random stop and breathalize
- justification for speed cameras
- justification for contractors using speed monitoring equipment
- justification for blaming "speed" for the majority of road deaths
Having lost my first wife in a road accident I don't lightly pooh pooh their anti speed platitudes. Inappropriate speed and reckless speeding is a very relevant issue. But it's only
one issue. My beef relates to the fact that their total focus on moderating driver behaviour allows or facilitates the roads people to blame all accidents on speeding while refusing to admit that the roads network here has serious problems of visibility and safety, as is demonstrated by accident black spots.
Rant mode off.
The next big brother device being proposed in England is to have all cars fitted or retro fitted with a transponder like those used for tolls[ or possibly GSM units]. Using these in conjunction with a nation wide network of pickup units the police will be able to know where your car is 24/7, what average speed you are doing between pickup units, where you stop, where you go to the loo. Ostensibly the reason for the use of them is to toll cars using certain heavy traffic motorway routes at certain times. If they get the green light on using it the police will push monitoring of the system using the "if we can save one life" argument.
I don't buy it. If saving life is the only or primary goal they would be much more successful merely by forbidding children from walking to school, forbidding old people, anybody, from crossing the road, forbidding cyclists from riding in heavy city traffic. And so on.
It's coming because they want it, but I for one will be resisting it.
Joe
