I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5345 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to require the Secretary of Transportation to promulgate rules requiring that motor vehicles of model year 

2012 or later be equipped with event data recorders compatible with 

a universal data retrieval method and that the data in event data recorders on motor vehicles prior to model year 2012 be readable by the 

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 19, 2010 

Ms. SPEIER (for herself, Ms. ESHOO, and Mr. QUIGLEY) 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 requiring 

that motor vehicles of model year 2012 or later be 

equipped with event data recorders compatible with a 

universal data retrieval method and that the data in 

event data recorders on motor vehicles prior to model 

year 2012 be readable by the National Highway Traffic 

Safety Administration, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Consumer Auto Safety 

3 Enhancement Act of 2010’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) Event data recorders offer important bene7 fits for motor vehicle safety, such as enabling auto8 matic crash notification systems for improved emer9 gency responses to crashes, increasing understanding 

10 of vehicle crashworthiness and safe highway design, 

11 and providing greater insight into trends in motor 

12 vehicle defects. 

13 (2) More than 38,000 people die each year on 

14 roads in the United States, and such fatalities could 

15 be reduced by taking full advantage of the benefits 

16 of event data recorders. 

17 (3) According to the event data recorder work18 ing group of the National Highway Traffic Safety 

19 Administration, the degree to which the benefits of 

20 event data recorders are realized is directly propor21 tional to the number of motor vehicles equipped with 

22 such recorders. 

23 (4) Requiring the inclusion of event data re24 corders in new motor vehicles would produce valu25 able safety benefits that would far outweigh the 

26 nominal financial burden on manufacturers. 


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1 (5) The National Transportation Safety Board 

2 has recommended that event data recorders be in3 stalled on light passenger vehicles and on 

4 schoolbuses and motorcoaches. 

5 SEC. 3. EVENT DATA RECORDERS. 

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

7 part A of subtitle VI of title 49, United States Code, is 

8 amended by adding at the end the following new sections: 

9 ‘‘§ 30129. Event data recorders required for model 

10 year 2012 or later 

11 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 

12 date of the enactment of this section, the Secretary of 

13 Transportation shall promulgate a rule that— 

14 ‘‘(1) requires each motor vehicle manufacturer 

15 to equip each motor vehicle of model year 2012 or 

16 later manufactured by such manufacturer, regard17 less of the gross vehicle weight rating of the motor 

18 vehicle, with an event data recorder that meets the 

19 specifications set forth in subsection (b); and 

20 ‘‘(2) establishes the uniform data retrieval 

21 method described in subsection (c). 

22 ‘‘(b) SPECIFICATIONS OF EVENT DATA RE23 CORDER.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) SURVIVABILITY.—The event data recorder 

2 required under subsection (a)(1) shall be capable 

3 of— 

4 ‘‘(A) sustaining without a loss of data— 

5 ‘‘(i) a crash that results in a fire in 

6 which the motor vehicle reaches a max7 imum temperature to be determined by the 

8 Secretary for a maximum period of time to 

9 be determined by the Secretary; and 

10 ‘‘(ii) a crash that results in the motor 

11 vehicle becoming immersed in not greater 

12 than 10 feet of water; and 

13 ‘‘(B) sustaining without a loss of data or 

14 function— 

15 ‘‘(i) a frontal barrier crash test at not 

16 less than 65 miles per hour; 

17 ‘‘(ii) the rear moving barrier crash 

18 test described in S6.2 of Federal Motor 

19 Vehicle Safety Standard 301 (49 C.F.R. 

20 571.301) that is applicable to the motor 

21 vehicle on which the event data recorder is 

22 installed; and 

23 ‘‘(iii) a side barrier crash test to be 

24 determined by the Secretary. 


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1 ‘‘(2) DATA ELEMENTS.—The event data re2 corder required under subsection (a)(1) shall record 

3 the following data elements: 

4 ‘‘(A) Yaw data. 

5 ‘‘(B) Safety belt status by seating location, 

6 number of occupants, and location in the vehi7 cle. 

8 ‘‘(C) Data regarding vehicle speed, engine 

9 rotations per minute, change in acceleration, 

10 and control signal status for the braking, accel11 eration, and steering systems. 

12 ‘‘(D) Driver and front passenger airbag 

13 deployment level, deactivation status, deploy14 ment time, and deployment stage. 

15 ‘‘(E) Rollover data. 

16 ‘‘(F) Data regarding the operation of the 

17 antilock brake system, the traction control sys18 tem, and the electronic stability control system, 

19 including the roll stability control system. 

20 ‘‘(G) A stamp including the motor vehicle’s 

21 vehicle identification number and the date, 

22 time, and odometer reading corresponding to 

23 each event collected. 

24 ‘‘(H) Tire pressure. 


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1 ‘‘(I) All other data elements listed in the 

2 left-hand column of table I or the left-hand col3 umn of table II of section 563.7 of title 49, 

4 Code of Federal Regulations, as such section is 

5 in effect on the date of the enactment of this 

6 section. 

7 ‘‘(J) Such other data as the Secretary con8 siders appropriate, including any data element 

9 in the event data recorder standards issued by 

10 the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engi11 neers or the Society of Automotive Engineers. 

12 ‘‘(3) LENGTH OF RECORDING TIME.—The event 

13 data recorder required under subsection (a)(1) shall 

14 record data related to a crash event for a period of 

15 not less than 60 seconds before time zero and 15 

16 seconds after time zero. For purposes of the pre17 ceding sentence, the term ‘time zero’ has the mean18 ing given such term in section 563.5(b) of title 49, 

19 Code of Federal Regulations, as such section is in 

20 effect on the date of the enactment of this section. 

21 ‘‘(4) TAMPER RESISTANCE.—The event data re22 corder required under subsection (a)(1) shall have 

23 such safeguards as the Secretary considers appro24 priate to prevent alteration of the data recorded. 


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1 ‘‘(5) COMPATIBILITY WITH UNIVERSAL DATA

2 RETRIEVAL METHOD.—The event data recorder re3 quired under subsection (a)(1) shall permit the data 

4 recorded by such recorder to be retrieved using the 

5 universal data retrieval method established under 

6 subsection (a)(2). The Secretary shall specify any 

7 data format requirements the Secretary considers 

8 appropriate to facilitate the establishment of such 

9 universal data retrieval method. 

10 ‘‘(c) UNIVERSAL DATA RETRIEVAL METHOD.—The 

11 universal data retrieval method required under subsection 

12 (a)(2) shall be a single method by which the recorded data 

13 in an event data recorder on any motor vehicle to which 

14 this section applies, regardless of manufacturer or model, 

15 may be removed from such event data recorder and put 

16 into readable form. For purposes of the preceding sen17 tence, data are in readable form if they conform to any 

18 data format requirements established by the Secretary and 

19 can be used to analyze the safety performance of a vehicle 

20 using commercially available equipment. 

21 ‘‘(d) DATA COLLECTION.— 

22 ‘‘(1) PROCESS FOR RECEIVING DATA.— 

23 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

24 establish a process by which an individual or 


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1 entity may transmit to the Secretary data from 

2 an event data recorder. 

3 ‘‘(B) PERIODIC EVALUATIONS AND MODI4 FICATIONS.—The Secretary shall conduct peri5 odic evaluations of the process established 

6 under subparagraph (A) and make such modi7 fications as the Secretary considers appropriate 

8 to ensure that the process is as effective and ef9 ficient as possible. 

10 ‘‘(2) EVENT DATA RECORDER DATABASE.— 

11 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

12 create a database for purposes of research and 

13 analysis that contains, in electronic format, all 

14 data available to the Secretary from event data 

15 recorders. Such database shall not include any 

16 data that were not obtained from an event data 

17 recorder, except for such data from other 

18 sources as the Secretary considers— 

19 ‘‘(i) relevant to performing research 

20 and analysis using data from event data 

21 recorders, including police accident reports 

22 and other similar official information re23 garding the conditions and circumstances 

24 under which the data were collected; or 


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1 ‘‘(ii) necessary to operate the event 

2 data recorder database. 

3 ‘‘(B) AVAILABILITY TO PUBLIC.— 

4 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Except as pro5 vided in clause (ii), the data in the data6 base required by subparagraph (A) shall be 

7 available to the public. 

8 ‘‘(ii) PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE IN9 FORMATION.—The Secretary shall ensure 

10 that the data made available to the public 

11 under clause (i) do not contain any infor12 mation that could be used to identify an 

13 owner, lessee, or occupant of a vehicle from 

14 whose event data recorder such data were 

15 obtained, including the full vehicle identi16 fication number of the vehicle, the name, 

17 mailing address, email address, or tele18 phone number of an owner, lessee, or occu19 pant, and any other information that is 

20 prohibited by law from disclosure or that 

21 the Secretary determines should be with22 held to protect individual privacy. 

23 ‘‘(e) EVENT DATA RECORDER DEFINED.—For pur24 poses of this section, the term ‘event data recorder’ has 


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1 the meaning given such term in section 563.5(b) of title 

2 49, Code of Federal Regulations. 

3 ‘‘§ 30130. Readability of data in event data recorders 

4 prior to model year 2012 

5 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 

6 date of the enactment of this section, the Secretary of 

7 Transportation shall promulgate a rule that requires each 

8 motor vehicle manufacturer to ensure that the data re9 corded by an event data recorder in a vehicle of a model 

10 year prior to model year 2012 that is manufactured by 

11 such manufacturer are capable of being read by the Na12 tional Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Such rule 

13 shall apply to a vehicle manufactured prior to the effective 

14 date of such rule if such vehicle is equipped with an event 

15 data recorder but shall not require any vehicle, regardless 

16 of the date of manufacture, to be equipped with an event 

17 data recorder. 

18 ‘‘(b) DATA CAPABLE OF BEING READ BY NHTSA.— 

19 For purposes of subsection (a), data in a motor vehicle’s 

20 event data recorder are capable of being read by the Na21 tional Highway Traffic Safety Administration if a rep22 resentative of the Administration who has physical access 

23 to the vehicle can, through the use of computer hardware 

24 and software, whether provided by the manufacturer of 

25 such vehicle or otherwise, gain access to such data in a 


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1 format that allows the Administration to analyze the safe2 ty performance of such vehicle. 

3 ‘‘(c) EVENT DATA RECORDER DEFINED.—For pur4 poses of this section, the term ‘event data recorder’ has 

5 the meaning given such term in section 563.5(b) of title 

6 49, Code of Federal Regulations. 

7 ‘‘(d) EFFECTIVE DATE OF RULE.—The rule promul8 gated under subsection (a) shall take effect not later than 

9 30 days after the date on which such rule is promulgated. 

10 ‘‘§ 30131. Privacy of data in event data recorders 

11 ‘‘(a) OWNERSHIP OF DATA.—The data stored in an 

12 event data recorder described in section 30129(a) or 

13 30130(a) are the property of the owner or lessee of the 

14 motor vehicle in which such event data recorder is in15 stalled. 

16 ‘‘(b) ACCESS TO DATA.—The data stored in an event 

17 data recorder described in section 30129(a) or 30130(a) 

18 may not be accessed by any person other than the owner 

19 or lessee of the motor vehicle in which such event data 

20 recorder is installed, unless— 

21 ‘‘(1) a court authorizes retrieval of the data in 

22 furtherance of a legal proceeding; 

23 ‘‘(2) the owner or lessee of such motor vehicle 

24 consents to the retrieval of the data for any purpose, 


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1 including to diagnose, service, or repair such motor 

2 vehicle; or 

3 ‘‘(3) the data are retrieved by a government 

4 motor vehicle safety agency for the purpose of im5 proving motor vehicle safety and the personally iden6 tifiable information of any owner, lessee, or occupant 

7 of such motor vehicle, including the vehicle identi8 fication number of such motor vehicle, is not publicly 

9 disclosed in connection with the data.’’. 

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

11 at the beginning of such chapter is amended by inserting 

12 after the item relating to section 30128 the following new 

13 items: 

30129. Event data recorders required for model year 2012 or later. 

30130. Readability of data in event data recorders prior to model year 2012. 

30131. Privacy of data in event data recorders. 

14 SEC. 4. REPORT ON FEASIBILITY OF AUTOMATIC TRANS15 MISSION OF EDR DATA. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

17 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Trans18 portation shall submit to Congress a report on the feasi19 bility of requiring that, after the involvement in a crash 

20 event of a motor vehicle equipped with an event data re21 corder under section 30129(a) of title 49, United States 

22 Code, such event data recorder automatically transmit to 

23 the Secretary, in electronic form, the data recorded with 

24 respect to the crash event. 


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1 (b) CONTENTS OF REPORT.—The report required by 

2 subsection (a) shall include— 

3 (1) an analysis, with respect to the time when 

4 such analysis is conducted, of systems and capabili5 ties for automatic electronic transmission of event 

6 data recorder data in the event of a crash and the 

7 extent to which it is the practice of motor vehicle 

8 manufacturers to collect such data; 

9 (2) an analysis of any benefits, whether mone10 tary or nonmonetary, of maintaining a database con11 taining the data that would be automatically trans12 mitted to the Secretary under the requirement de13 scribed in subsection (a); 

14 (3) an analysis of the cost to motor vehicle 

15 manufacturers of complying with such requirement 

16 as compared to the cost of requiring the submission 

17 of the same information by means other than auto18 matic electronic transmission; 

19 (4) the Secretary’s recommendation of a rea20 sonable timeline for manufacturers to comply with 

21 the requirement described in subsection (a); and 

22 (5) an analysis of any privacy issues posed by 

23 such requirement and recommendations for how they 

24 might be addressed or eliminated. 

Æ 


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