Safety experts want access to 'black boxes'
11 January 2003: American safety experts have criticised car manufacturers for not setting up a standard system for operation of 'crash recorders' in cars, similar to those already used in aircraft.
Some 25 million cars in the US are already equipped with the recorders, but the lack of a standard system means that access to the data is only available to the individual manufacturer.
Safety people say that there should be an open system accessible directly by safety and emergency services, but manufacturers seem reluctant to deal with the issue, citing 'customer privacy' matters.
The data recorders record vehicle speed, use of seatbelts and measure the severity of the impact. The information tells manufacturers how well the safety systems in the cars have worked.