I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5169 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to require the Secretary of Transportation to promulgate rules to require that all motor vehicles be equipped 

with event data recorders by 2015, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 28, 2010 

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to require the Secretary of Transportation to promulgate rules to require 

that all motor vehicles be equipped with event data recorders by 2015, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Event Data Recorder 

5 Enhancement Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Event data recorders have the potential to 

2 greatly improve motor vehicle safety by improving 

3 occupant protection systems and improving the accu4 racy of crash reconstructions. 

5 (2) Event data recorder technology has poten6 tial safety applications for all classes of motor vehi7 cles. 

8 (3) A wide range of crash-related and other 

9 data elements have been identified which can use10 fully be captured by event data recorders. 

11 (4) The National Highway Traffic Safety Ad12 ministration has incorporated event data recorder 

13 data collection in its motor vehicle research data14 bases. 

15 (5) Open access to event data recorder data will 

16 benefit researchers, crash investigators, and manu17 facturers in improving motor vehicle safety. 

18 (6) Studies of event data recorder information 

19 in Europe and the United States have shown that 

20 driver and employee awareness of an on-board event 

21 data recorder reduces the number and severity of 

22 crashes. 

23 (7) Given the differing nature of cars, vans, 

24 SUVs, and other lightweight vehicles, compared to 

25 heavy trucks, school buses, and motor coaches, difVerDate Mar 15 2010 04:17 Apr 29, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5169.IH H5169

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1 ferent event data recorder data systems may be re2 quired to meet the needs of each vehicle class. 

3 (8) The degree of benefit from an event data 

4 recorder is directly related to the number of vehicles 

5 operating with an event data recorder and the cur6 rent infrastructure’s ability to use and assimilate the 

7 data. 

8 (9) Automatic crash notification systems inte9 grate the on-board crash sensing and event data re10 corder technology with other electronic systems, such 

11 as global positioning systems and cellular telephones, 

12 to provide early notification of the occurrence, na13 ture, and location of a serious collision. 

14 SEC. 3. EVENT DATA RECORDERS. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter II of chapter 301 of 

16 title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

17 end the following new section: 

18 ‘‘§ 30129. Event data recorders 

19 ‘‘(a) REQUIRED EVENT DATA RECORDERS.—Not 

20 later than 6 months after the date of the enactment of 

21 this section, the Secretary shall modify the motor vehicle 

22 safety standard contained in part 563 of title 49, Code 

23 of Federal Regulations, to require that passenger auto24 mobiles (as defined in section 32901(a)(16)) be equipped 

25 with an event data recorder that meets the requirements 


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1 for event data recorders set forth in such part. The Sec2 retary shall require manufacturers to include such event 

3 data recorders in— 

4 ‘‘(1) not less than 25 percent of their fleet be5 ginning in model year 2013; 

6 ‘‘(2) not less than 65 percent of their fleet be7 ginning in model year 2014; and 

8 ‘‘(3) 100 percent of their fleet beginning in 

9 model year 2015. 

10 ‘‘(b) COMPATIBLE DATA RETRIEVAL TOOLS.—Not 

11 later than 12 months after the date of enactment of this 

12 section, the Secretary shall modify the requirements in 

13 section 563.12 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, 

14 to require a standardized port for accessing and retrieving 

15 data stored in any event data recorder and that is compat16 ible with all such event data recorders regardless of the 

17 manufacturer or model of the motor vehicle. 

18 ‘‘(c) DISCLOSURE.—The owner’s manual of each new 

19 motor vehicle sold or leased in the United States that is 

20 equipped with a recording device shall clearly indicate the 

21 presence of the event data recorder required under this 

22 section, in accordance with section 563.11 of title 49, Code 

23 of Federal Regulations (or any successor regulation). 

24 ‘‘(d) PRIVACY PROTECTIONS.—Information recorded 

25 or transmitted by event data recorder required under this 


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1 section may not be retrieved by a person other than the 

2 owner of the motor vehicle in which the recording device 

3 is installed unless— 

4 ‘‘(1) a court authorizes retrieval of such infor5 mation in furtherance of a legal proceeding; 

6 ‘‘(2) the owner consents to such retrieval for 

7 any purpose, including diagnosing, servicing, or re8 pairing the motor vehicle; or 

9 ‘‘(3)(A) the information is retrieved by a gov10 ernment motor vehicle safety agency for the purpose 

11 of improving motor vehicle safety; and 

12 ‘‘(B) the personally identifiable information of 

13 the owner or driver of the vehicle or the vehicle iden14 tification number is not disclosed in connection with 

15 the retrieved information. 

16 ‘‘(e) NON-APPLICATION TO TRAILERS.—The require17 ments promulgated under this section shall apply to all 

18 motor vehicles except trailers, as such term is defined in 

19 section 571.3 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations. 

20 ‘‘(f) DEFINITION OF MODEL YEAR.—For purposes of 

21 this section, the term ‘model year’ means the manufactur22 er’s annual production period that begins on September 

23 1 of a given year which includes January 1 of the calendar 

24 year for which it is named. If the manufacturer has no 


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1 annual production period, the term ‘model year’ for that 

2 manufacturer means the calendar year.’’. 

3 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

4 at the beginning of such chapter is amended by inserting 

5 after the item relating to section 30128 the following new 

6 item: 

30129. Event data recorders. 

Æ 


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