Not only google... your car MFR also knows everything about you...

Mazzspeed said:
Chances are you will set off the airbags, that's the crash sensor, hence why it's usually bolted to the floor firmly under the center console right in the middle of the vehicle.

I've never seen anyone rebuild an airbag control module, I worked in dealership land for many years and if anyone came to me with a rebuilt module and wanted me to check/clear the module for reuse there absolutely no way I'd do such a thing from a liability perspective. I'm also very good with electronics, and from a liability perspective I wouldn't touch an airbag control module that's been in an accident with a ten foot barge pole.
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That's a problem with rebuilding one, but you can normally get away with stating it's stock or a reman. The problem with '90s modules is that noone makes them and remans go for ~$500 when 9/10 times they just need caps replaced. ECMs can be a different story when it comes to fixing though as many performance cars will have something from another car swapped in without proper harness changes that can lead to burnt PCB leads (I've had to lead-jump and rewire a few foxbodies when previous owners used a aod module in a manual, no fun).

Edit; For reference, I haven't use a module that was in a crash, but there are a lot of '90s cars with bad modules that have never been popped and it's always due to the caps aging.
 
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kirbyrj said:
What do you think controls airbag deployment? It used to just be called the airbag control module. It's not recording days of data, it's recording minutes.
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I think you misunderstood what I was getting at. Insurance companies can use that data to determine what fault needs to be applied were...and it is constantly recording data, it just overwrites data...that is older than x amount of time.

How a EDR works..

https://www.bing.com/search?q=how+d...s=n&sk=&cvid=ed037cc9f0a74349a74f7b56d14b1212

take your pick...
 
YeuEmMaiMai said:
I think you misunderstood what I was getting at. Insurance companies can use that data to determine what fault needs to be applied were...and it is constantly recording data, it just overwrites data...that is older than x amount of time.

How a EDR works..

https://www.bing.com/search?q=how+does+a+car+event+data+recorder+work?&form=EDNTHT&mkt=en-us&httpsmsn=1&msnews=1&rec_search=1&plvar=0&refig=ed037cc9f0a74349a74f7b56d14b1212&sp=-1&pq=how+does+a+car+event+data+recorder+work?&sc=0-40&qs=n&sk=&cvid=ed037cc9f0a74349a74f7b56d14b1212

take your pick...
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I know exactly how they work. I misspoke when I said minutes instead of seconds. I've investigated several fatal crashes. The "incident" in question is usually the point of airbag deployment but some newer cars. It will give you information such as speed, steering, braking, acceleration, seatbelt use, and whether airbags deployed. It's usually pretty obvious what happened in most crashes without looking at EDR. You have a significantly better chance of screwing up the airbag deployment by messing with the EDR than you ever would of having insurance companies pick through your EDR due to a crash. I'd be significantly more concerned with those snapshot devices plugged into the ODB2 or the phone apps that monitor your driving to give you "savings" if you think your insurance company is out to get you.
 
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kirbyrj said:
I know exactly how they work. I misspoke when I said minutes instead of seconds. I've investigated several fatal crashes. The "incident" in question is usually the point of airbag deployment. It will give you information such as speed and percentage of braking deployment. It's usually pretty obvious what happened in most crashes without looking at EDR. You have a significantly better chance of screwing up the airbag deployment by messing with the EDR than you ever would of having insurance companies pick through your EDR due to a crash. I'd be significantly more concerned with those snapshot devices plugged into the ODB2 or the phone apps that monitor your driving to give you "savings" if you think your insurance company is out to get you.
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lol if you are that concerned, you do not have to partake in those snapshot devices, I have no issues with my OBD2 reader being plugged in reading data from any of my cars. I think it is pretty cool to see how my 3.6R AWD is doing in the snow with the power distribution...

as for my insurance I doubt it is going to get any cheaper than what it is now $658 full coverage 100/300/100K coverage, 500 deductible, roadside, and glass on 3 cars. As such I have no need for one of those devices that monitor my driving.
 
YeuEmMaiMai said:
lol if you are that concerned, you do not have to partake in those snapshot devices, I have no issues with my OBD2 reader being plugged in reading data from any of my cars. I think it is pretty cool to see how my 3.6R AWD is doing in the snow with the power distribution...

as for my insurance I doubt it is going to get any cheaper than what it is now $658 full coverage 100/300/100K coverage, 500 deductible, roadside, and glass on 3 cars. As such I have no need for one of those devices that monitor my driving.
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That's my point. The EDR isn't there to monitor your driving per se. It's there to ensure that the various subsystems (airbag control module, seatbelts, etc.) work properly at the time of a crash.

This Chevy Volt nonsense about parking location and stuff like that is bullshit, but the fact that the average car records speed, steering, braking, acceleration, seatbelt use, and, in the event of a crash, force of impact and whether airbags deployed shouldn't be a big deal.
 
kirbyrj said:
This Chevy Volt nonsense about parking location and stuff like that is bullshit
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To kind of circle back around, though, apparently it's not with Teslas--remember a couple years ago when some journalist wrote a scathing review of one and Elon popped onto Twitter like he does claiming the journo was lying and he had telemetry to prove it?
 
Shoganai said:
That’s just lovely. That sounds incredibly shady.
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Nah it's great for litigation. Love when the driver claims he was wearing his seatbelt while he was doing 30 in a 10mph zone and we just pull up the EDR which tells us everything we need to know.
 
NickJames said:
Nah it's great for litigation. Love when the driver claims he was wearing his seatbelt while he was doing 30 in a 10mph zone and we just pull up the EDR which tells us everything we need to know.
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Assuming there was no crash, that would be overwritten within seconds. It's not just as easy as "pulling up the EDR" either.

And you're not going to believe this, but people don't always tell the truth about what happens in crashes... Personally, I bought myself a dash cam. My cousin was in a crash where the other person claimed something false, and he sent the dash cam footage to the insurance company who hammered the other driver. My brother rear ended someone, and they tried to say that someone other than the driver was driving when they sued him for physical issues.

A lot of these features work to your benefit if you are hurt in a crash...unless of course, you're the one driving like an asshole crashing into things at high speeds...
 
kirbyrj said:
Assuming there was no crash, that would be overwritten within seconds. It's not just as easy as "pulling up the EDR" either.

And you're not going to believe this, but people don't always tell the truth about what happens in crashes... Personally, I bought myself a dash cam. My cousin was in a crash where the other person claimed something false, and he sent the dash cam footage to the insurance company who hammered the other driver. My brother rear ended someone, and they tried to say that someone other than the driver was driving when they sued him for physical issues.

A lot of these features work to your benefit if you are hurt in a crash...unless of course, you're the one driving like an asshole crashing into things at high speeds...
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It keeps the last 5 or so seconds of data in any collision so even fender benders keep logs. It's my job to dissect those lies and find the truth for defensive reasons. We tend to have a moderately successful time in pulling the logs. I would say about half of the cases I have worked on have EDR data.
 
kirbyrj said:
Assuming there was no crash, that would be overwritten within seconds. It's not just as easy as "pulling up the EDR" either.

And you're not going to believe this, but people don't always tell the truth about what happens in crashes... Personally, I bought myself a dash cam. My cousin was in a crash where the other person claimed something false, and he sent the dash cam footage to the insurance company who hammered the other driver. My brother rear ended someone, and they tried to say that someone other than the driver was driving when they sued him for physical issues.

A lot of these features work to your benefit if you are hurt in a crash...unless of course, you're the one driving like an asshole crashing into things at high speeds...
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This is why I have a front and rear camera in my car. I’ve been in situations where people were blatantly lying out their ass.


NickJames said:
Nah it's great for litigation. Love when the driver claims he was wearing his seatbelt while he was doing 30 in a 10mph zone and we just pull up the EDR which tells us everything we need to know.
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I’m all for punishing dangerous idiots, but it’s still unsettling.
 
My Unifi controller gives me the MAC address and network name of every car that drives past my house.
 
N4CR said:
Onstar is in the Pontiac G8 (Holden here) located in a box in the parcel tray. You can unplug it.
But finding a service manual to do that is tricky.

My solution is to do a full powertrain swap and run a standalone ECU with an aftermarket ICE. But that's not for the normal user lol.
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I disconnected the onstar on my G8 too. It was super easy. All I had to do was open the trunk and unplug one or two cords from the onstar unit. I didn't need tools or anything.

I just followed a guide some guy posted to a G8 forum. The funny part is people were calling him a conspiracy nut for posting it then a year later there was a big news story that showed onstar was selling data to police.
 
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sharknice said:
I disconnected the onstar on my G8 too. It was super easy. All I had to do was open the trunk and unplug one or two cords from the onstar unit. I didn't need tools or anything.

I just followed a guide some guy posted to a G8 forum. The funny part is people were calling him a conspiracy nut for posting it then a year later there was a big news story that showed onstar was selling data to police.
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First of all, the police don't "buy" data. They just get it for free after executing a search warrant.

Second, if your car got stolen, the police could recover it within hours with OnStar enabled. The police don't have any interest in your OnStar data unless you are doing something wrong or are in need of assistance and have been contacted by OnStar. Disabling OnStar to "foil" the police is exactly the behavior of a conspiracy nut.
 
sharknice said:
I disconnected the onstar on my G8 too. It was super easy. All I had to do was open the trunk and unplug one or two cords from the onstar unit. I didn't need tools or anything.

I just followed a guide some guy posted to a G8 forum. The funny part is people were calling him a conspiracy nut for posting it then a year later there was a big news story that showed onstar was selling data to police.
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LOL nice! It's always a conspiracy until it is true. Still got the G8?
I used to warn people about Echelon and similar traitorous crap (family knew about it first hand well before it was mainstream) and was called a nut until Snowden etc came out. I hate being right sometimes.
 
N4CR said:
LOL nice! It's always a conspiracy until it is true. Still got the G8?
I used to warn people about Echelon and similar traitorous crap (family knew about it first hand well before it was mainstream) and was called a nut until Snowden etc came out. I hate being right sometimes.
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Yep I still drive it daily, a 2009 g8 gt. I got it new at a pretty good discount because GM was being forced to discontinue Pontiac and all that.
 
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kirbyrj said:
First of all, the police don't "buy" data. They just get it for free after executing a search warrant.

Second, if your car got stolen, the police could recover it within hours with OnStar enabled. The police don't have any interest in your OnStar data unless you are doing something wrong or are in need of assistance and have been contacted by OnStar. Disabling OnStar to "foil" the police is exactly the behavior of a conspiracy nut.
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In this case the police did buy the data, and it wasn't for any specific person, it was the data for everyone using it. No warrant was required. The police department that bought it didn't even say what they were using it for.
They could "abuse" it in all sorts of ways that you may find perfectly acceptable but I do not. They could issue you a speeding ticket for going 56 in a 55.
 
sharknice said:
In this case the police did buy the data, and it wasn't for any specific person, it was the data for everyone using it. No warrant was required. The police department that bought it didn't even say what they were using it for.
They could "abuse" it in all sorts of ways that you may find perfectly acceptable but I do not. They could issue you a speeding ticket for going 56 in a 55.
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They actually can't. Speeding tickets have to be the result of specific certified devices. Furthermore, many jurisdictions have laws in place regarding the minimum speed over the posted speed limit for example, in my state, you have to be traveling at least 6 mph over the speed limit to be cited for speeding. There are some exceptions (school zones), but generally 6 over. What we're talking about is more crash related. Sure, if you're drinking and kill someone in a DUI crash, you can fully expect the police to pour over your vehicle to find out the specifics of the crash, and likewise, if you are seriously hurt in a crash that is not your fault, you can expect the police to pull that data also. The police aren't going to randomly hookup a dongle to your car to read your EDR on a traffic stop.

You'd have to link something with that police buy of data because it sounds fishy.
 
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sharknice said:
Yep I still drive it daily, a 2009 g8 gt. I got it new at a pretty good discount because GM was being forced to discontinue Pontiac and all that.
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Always wanted to buy the wagon but won't be able to do a new one for much longer if my business takes much longer ( contacts in the pipeline).. Lucky you to experience that. Sort of car people don't realize how good they are till they're gone or no longer easy to find..
I have some hsv goodies laying around ( and most of the suspension/subframes from an hsv gts) and will probably get another wreck next year to part. If you need anything hsv/Holden specific, let me know! Happy to help.
Enjoy that beast.
P.s. apparently g5 camaro diffs bolt in. Same splines too I've counted them.
 
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