Do Insurance Companies Check Black Boxes in Cars?

You may have heard of black boxes or event data recorders (EDRs) in cars and wondered if insurance companies use them to monitor your driving. While these devices do record driving data, insurance companies cannot access a vehicle’s black box without consent. However, insurers are increasingly offering usage-based “telematics” programs that track driving habits through an app in exchange for potential discounts.

What is a Black Box in a Car?

A black box, also called an event data recorder (EDR), is a device installed in most vehicles manufactured after 2014. The EDR records certain vehicle data in the moments leading up to, during, and after a crash such as:

• Vehicle speed
• Brake application
• Seatbelt use
• Airbag deployment
• Severity of impact

This data provides objective information about what happened during an accident. It can be useful evidence in injuries claims and lawsuits to help determine fault and liability.

Do Insurance Companies Have Access to Black Boxes?

Importantly, auto insurance companies cannot access the data in your vehicle’s black box without your consent. The data belongs to the vehicle owner and is protected for privacy.

Insurance companies can only retrieve and use black box data as evidence if:

• You grant them access as part of an insurance claim investigation
• It is legally obtained through a court order or subpoena

So rest assured that your insurer does not have direct access to spy on your driving habits through your vehicle’s EDR.

How Insurers Use Telematics Instead

While auto insurers cannot tap into your car’s black box, they are increasingly offering discounted “telematics” programs that track driving data in exchange for premium reductions.

Participants in telematics programs use a smartphone app or plug a monitoring device into the OBD-II port in their car. This allows the insurance company to gather data on driving habits like:

• Miles driven
• Time of day
• Speed
• Rapid acceleration
• Hard braking
• Location

By analyzing this data, insurance companies claim they can better assess risk profiles for customers and provide discounts to safer drivers.

While privacy advocates have raised concerns, these voluntary telematics programs have become popular, especially among younger drivers seeking to lower costs. Some insurers now have over 50% of customers enrolled in telematics policies.

So while insurers can’t directly access your vehicle’s black box, they are able to monitor driving behavior through usage-based telematics programs.

When Black Box Data Can Be Used as Evidence

If you are involved in an accident and file an insurance claim or lawsuit, the EDR in your vehicle could provide critical evidence to help prove your case.

Here are some examples of how black box data may be useful:

• Proving the other driver was speeding prior to collision
• Showing the force of impact to correlate with injury severity
• Confirming seatbelt use despite claims otherwise
• Demonstrating you used turn signals contrary to accusations
• Recording number of impacts (i.e. rear-ended before hitting another car)

To obtain black box data for your claim, you would typically need to hire an auto accident attorney to legally compel release of the data through requests, subpoenas, or court orders.

An experienced attorney can procure the EDR evidence and work with accident reconstruction experts to analyze the data in support of your injury claim or lawsuit.

Other Car Technology Insurance Can Analyze

In addition to voluntary telematics programs, auto insurers are exploring use of other emerging vehicle technologies to gather driving data:

• Infotainment systems – Usage and GPS location patterns could indicate risky driving habits.

• Vehicle sensors – Internal sensors could record rapid acceleration and hard braking.

• ADAS – Advanced safety systems like automatic emergency braking could signal reduced risk.

• V2V & V2I – Vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications could reveal location patterns and risk.

• Self-driving systems – Autonomous vehicle capabilities could demonstrate lower risk driving.

While access to this data also raises privacy issues, insurers are very interested in using it to better price policies based on actual driving behavior and risk profiles.

Protecting Your Privacy

While your insurer cannot directly monitor the black box in your vehicle, voluntary telematics programs do allow ongoing tracking of driving habits via smartphone app.

If you enroll in a telematics program for potential discounts, be aware that you are giving up some privacy. Make sure you understand exactly what data is collected and how it will be used by the insurance company. Also check how long they retain the driving data they collect.

For full privacy, avoid telematics programs and do not consent to release of your vehicle’s black box data without consulting an attorney first. EDR data may be vital to prove your case if you are in a serious accident, so do not let an insurer access it without legal guidance.

Speak With An Attorney

If you were injured in an auto accident, contact an experienced attorney to protect your rights and discuss use of black box data to support an insurance claim or lawsuit. Retaining legal counsel ensures you do not jeopardize the value of critical EDR evidence that could prove your case.