Event Data Recorder (EDR aka Black Box)

the sport hood and color keyed grill were an early christmas gift courtesy of a deer. the deer was last seen walking calmly away sporting a toyota emblem branded on its flank! the owner of the truck (me) was not walking away calmly. However, this misfortune turned into some good as i got a sport hood, red grill, bull bar and some lights out of the deal with very little cost to me, thank you State Farm.

Do i recomend doing it this way, hell no

 

Wow, now that is luck - both good and bad all wrapped up into one!

 

Well, that is not quite the story I was expecting but it is nice to know that it was not hard to have done. Oh, and sorry, I do know how to spell. I apparently don't proof read very well! Very cool looking taco!

 

I was just going thru the forums checking over things and I noticed this was posted 7 months ago and I never replied to it. So, better late than never, and with too much time on my hands now, I will FINALLY answer your question.

The sport hood was a freebie from the insurance company after the truck suffered a unfriendly meeting with a deer. I paid only for the parts not covered ie. the sport hood insert grill.
I also changed the front grill to red, which was previously dark grey or charcoal.

I sold the reg cab '05 a month or so ago and purchased a '07 access cab v6 auto with no sport hood. So far, I have had 2 near misses with deer, one that was just a hair away from my hood. I will keep trying, but obviously, since I want a sport hood, I probably will never get a deer to hit me again! We are coming into the deer run season, so my chances improve everyday.

 

Just curious. Do you have these encounters after dark? I find that driving with your head lights on at night tend to bring deer on to the road. I've not had the same problem with the low beams on and I dont even have deer whistles on my Truck. So far so good.

The last time I smacked one head on, I had my head lights on and the deer whistles (animal alert) were pretty much useless.

 

The airbag contrul module stores all of these figures. Only manufacturers have the ability to get the info from the SRS module, do to the many different connector stlyes.

 

The srs control ecu as well as the pcm have way more info stored than a dealer tech can access via scaner or factory interface..This is realy nothing to be concerned with..This info has been in there for years..There are codes on the product line that I work on that the general public could read but would not get factory support for let alone know what they are there for...I can tell you if you miss a shift and do a 5 to 2 oopsie at 90 or so mph and knick some valves that theres a way I know that that wont set in the pcm besides an abvious misfire ses lamp on...

 

How would you interface with the ECU or PCM to get this data? OBDII?

 

+1 In my ten years of turning wrenches, I did see one car that a 5 to 2 shift happened. Threw the #1 and #3 pistons through the oil pan. There was a stored code in the ECM. The fault was "Engine Speed Exceded". I cant remember the P code though. The customer tried to claim it as a defect, but after that fault was found it was declined.

 

Thats what happens when the wheels drive the engine to 13 or so grand in 2nd gear in a half second or so....ka-boom...(seems to happen on close ratio 6 speeds) The overspeed code is one of the many manufacturers use as a reference for warranty consideration in the "grey" areas...Hey, for that matter try to get warranty for altered truck suspension..Roll the dice on a axle or bearing concern...or gears or manual trans failures or ...you get the idea...It realy depends on who and where and what but I can tell you I have seen warranty coverage declined by the manufacturers as`well as extended policies...The point I am trying to make is the way out and the pay out..I am going to lift my new 08' and how quickly I can put it back to "stock" will be a consideration..I visualy like the truxx 3" kit due to the fact the springs are spaced above the mount which makes it less invasive to remove for a trip to the dealer for a pinion whine or some other drivline/drivtrain issue that could be a AHH-NO its "lifted" flag..Anyway, nice to know theres wrenches reading...

 

good question...to unlock this info to a scanner or laptop and interface you need the manufacturers software and the approved hardware which unless you work in that dept for said manufacturer or maybe the fed govt crash test program r@d dept I am quite sure the average person could not obtain the info..But hey, you never know..Some teenager got an I-Phone working on other networks besides AT@T!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I'd worry that it would disable your truck or flag that it was tampered with in the truck's computer.

I saw a device on Penn & Teller's Bull****, episode "Big Brother". The device he had was pretty small. They said the police could attach a monitoring device, get GPS data from it live, and that they didn't need a warrant to do so.

 

Are "airbag control module" is a "event data recorder" AKA "black box"?
Or there's separate black box?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/TOYOTA-TACOM...-/171065802973

 

I believe your Air Bag Control Module is the computer that takes your sensor information from your truck's various sensors and determines if your airbags are to be deployed and which one is used. It will input data to your main computer onboard your Tacoma, the ECM. Your main computer that controls all the functions on your truck also records that data and is your Black Box. I do not believe you can hack it or fool with the computer. Toyota says it has only two computers in the US that can read the black box data. I hope this helps.

 

http://m.autoblog.com/2014/04/10/senate-votes-car-black-box-data-private/

 

So where is the location of these devices and what happens if it is removed

 

Event data recorders were originally integrated into the SRS (Airbag) module on most vehicles, newer vehicles likely have them in multiple modules.
There's not really any way around them unless you drive a vehicle from the 90s or earlier that didn't have airbags.
If you are really worried about being tracked and recorded your cell phone knows more about you than your car ever will, if your worried about proving liability in an accident get a dash cam.