I need help disabling my driving performance monitor

....or it could put you away depending on what you were doing!

You could say "uh, yeah Officer I slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting him...." while the EDR says you floored the gas instead. Now, maybe you hit the wrong pedal by mistake instead of intentionally ramming the person in front, but how is that data gonna be interpreted? Not only do you have to explain to the cops what happened you have to WHY you did what the EDR says you did.

 

Or it could totally screw you if you were going to fast

 

True. Might also be able to show the gas AND brake were pressed like you accidentally covered both pedals.

Then again, I'm one of those people that doesn't particularly care for Big Brother watching everything I do. How long until Minority Report becomes reality?

 

Rumor has it that the local BIG DOG motorcycle dealer replaced the first two motors on a $30K bike under warranty. They refused warranty on #3. They went to court with the data they pulled up with something like this black box. The guy had taken a brand new bike and taken it well past red-line shortly after leaving the show room floor blowing up the first two motors. Expecting unlimited warranty for being a DH. Personally I think he should have eaten the first one if they could show what he had done.

 

Hey maybe a video in every truck so they can watch us also ?


when you give up a little freedom for security you have neither !

 

Pretty much 911 + 7.

 

In my 05 Avalon the EDR sits under the right front passenger seat. I've been sorely tempted a few times to pull the plug on that puppy.

 

So if you were to unplug the box in the kick panel would that throw a CEL?

 

I don't know I can't see it being a separate box plugged into the ecu, I have only ever seen the wire harness connectors plugged directly into the ECU and not into any separate box first. The ecu has the capability of storing CEL information before and after an incident so if the trigger was deployment of the airbags I think all information for the EDR would be recorded inside the ECU itself.

 

Eventually they could be combined. But with our currect technology, you still need flash memory, an OS, and software to gather all the data points correctly for eventual downloading. Plus, why disable a vehicle should a recorder need to be pulled, just plug in another. Bound to be a lot cheaper than an ECU. Again, once technology costs tumble, they will combine.

 

I spoke to our factory FTS (Field Technical Specialist) yesterday who is our factory guru about Toyota's EDR system. He states the EDR is in fact located in the center airbag sensor assembly and no way to disable it. He states he does not know all of the info that is gathered there or how the info is retrieved but when it is requested it is turned over to Toyota's legal department they have a (Black Box Specialist) who will retrieve it. He stated that Toyota uses the info gathered to improve Toyota's SRS system's and to make Toyota's a safer car/truck.

 

This is absolute bullshit. If there is anything recording anything in my truck I want to know about it upfront. This is just another government, bullshit violation of our rights. Nobody should have access to anything besides pulling CEL codes in any of our cars. ITS MY CAR I'LL DO WHATEVER THE HELL I WANT WITH IT. Now I'm no reckless driver, in fact I'm a cop, and I strongly oppose anything to do with recording without permission. Big brother is watching guys. So where is the module located at? Because it I ever get into an accident its getting desroyed. And according to an earlier post it says Toyota will release the info if "officially" requested by police, so does that mean I can send them a request on letterhead and get it? Shit if you want my info u better come with a warrant. I really think this will be fought out in the courts in he coming years, especially here in PA, we have tight wiretap/electronic monitoring laws so being unaware its there can make it inadmissable in court. Here is a disturbing story about the GM one, and remember on-star knows where u are at all times regardless of if its activated or not.

For example: When AutoWeek conducted handling tests on a mundane Chevy Malibu Maxx hatchback earlier this year, the recorder automatically alerted GM OnStar officials, who called the car to make sure the driver was OK after a particularly severe cornering maneuver. The driver was, but later said he resented the intrusion.

 

Exactly. How long until the info or access methods "leak" so someone can hack your car and shut it off in the middle of a freeway during rush hour "for kicks"? Like people hacking government computers, credit card companies or whatever because they can/are bored/think it's fun. I mean, On-Star can pretty much control you car now by coasting to a stop and shutting off the engine if it's reported stolen. It can probably do more that I don't know about offhand.

Ever see those "bait cars" the cops use to catch car thieves? Technology is probably similar to On-Star in that they can lock the doors so the thief can't get out, let it run for a while, and then kill the engine with the perp stuck inside. They say they don't use the door lock option, but all it takes is a few bad people to use it. What kind of systems do we have in place to prevent abuse? I just read an article about a network admin in Hollywood that changed the master password and locked the city out of a new multi-million dollar network. It'll cost millions to have Cisco come in and hack into the system to undo what he did. Can someone say "disgruntled On-Star employee".

Edit: The Hollywood snafu could have been avoided if they limited access to the guy when they noticed him acting "strangely", but didn't. So who's watching the people behind the On-Star and similar systems?

 

Am I the only person that has heard of these before. To the best of my knowledge, they have been around for a few years too.