Limits proposed on access to vehicle data devices (The Virginian-Pilot - HamptonRoads.com/PilotOnline.com)

DEIRDRE FERNANDES, The Virginian-Pilot
© February 13, 2006

RICHMOND — What does your car reveal about you?

Perhaps more than you’d like.


From automobile “black boxes” to Global Positioning System devices, the electronic information collected by cars can be nearly as telling as a fingerprint. The gadgets hoard evidence of driving habits, including lead feet, seat belt use and favorite haunts.

Auto makers might have originally installed the devices as safety features, but their usefulness now extends far beyond the driver.

Police can download the information to re-create wreck scenes. Insurance companies can mine the data to verify claims and change the premiums they charge. Attorneys can tap into the tracking data to build divorce cases against unfaithful spouses. Security companies, such as OnStar, use it to call for emergency help when their customers are in crashes.



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Virginia law, however, is hazy about who owns all that information, which raises privacy questions that can pit the car owner’s interests against those of the police and insurance and security companies.

“Right now it’s like unclaimed territory,” said Del. Joe T. May, R-Loudoun, a former engineer who is both awed and alarmed by GPS devices and event data recorders, the technical term for black boxes.

May has authored one of a handful of bills aimed at regulating the data. “We need to make sure that technology is our servant, not our master,” May said.

A House committee passed May’s bill, HB816, Friday. It would specify that the information belongs to a car’s owner, except when law enforcement officers are investigating a crime or mechanics are fixing the vehicle.

The bill would allow owners to sign a contract with an insurance or security company to release that information.

Some consumer advocates, defense lawyers and legislators think the bill still leaves the car owner vulnerable.

Sen. John C. Watkins, R-Powhatan, has introduced broader legislation that also would put the brakes on insurance companies charging higher premiums to customers who refuse to provide the data.

“I think it’s very important legislation to have in place because it protects people,” Watkins said.

The Senate Courts of Justice Committee will consider Watkins’ bill, SB90, today. Senators already have cleared SB89, another Watkins bill, which requires car manufacturers to notify buyers about the recording devices in the owners manual.

If the bills pass, Virginia will join six other states with laws on electronic car data.

Automobile event data recorders surfaced in the 1970s to collect crash information. Until about 15 years ago, automakers limited their use to trucks.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 15 percent of light vehicles on the road are equipped with the recorders, which are slightly bigger than a pack of cigarettes, but a vast majority of cars built since 2004 have black boxes.

What the devices record varies by automaker. Most track five seconds of information – including the car’s speed, throttle position, brake action, headlight and seat belt use – and are tied in to the air bag system .

That information is far less intrusive than health records or bank statements, and insurance companies should have access, said Rey Becker, vice president of commercial lines and claims with Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, an insurance trade group.

“An insurance adjuster goes to a scene of an accident and measures the skid marks or measures the dings in a car ; this isn’t any different,” Becker said. “It’s very routine, objective information. I am concerned that we’re in a zeal to protect privacy that may be going overboard.”

If a wrecked car is at the body shop, the investigating insurance agent will ask the mechanic for the electronic data, Becker said.

Some companies, including Progressive Insurance, are going further and have started voluntary programs that allow drivers to qualify for lower premiums if they give the companies routine access to the data.

As data recording devices become more common, however, so does the fear that they could be used to snitch on a driver in court, said Michael Gladstone, a defense lawyer with Troutman Sanders in Richmond.

“Why the subject has sparked interest nationwide is the attitude that I shouldn’t have my car busting on me,” Gladstone said. “It’s a privacy issue.”

According to a poll by AAA Mid-Atlantic, 67 percent of Virginians think the information should be private, except with the owner’s permission.

Striking the right balance between consumer protection and corporate concerns can be tricky. The insurance companies think Watkins’ bill is too restrictive. The automobile manufacturers think it is too broad and could sway people away from these devices.

“Eventually, we’re concerned that they won’t want these devices in the cars,” said J. Christopher Jankowski, a lobbyist for DaimlerChrysler. “We’re concerned that we’re going to be blamed for something that is beneficial.”


Reach Deirdre Fernandes at (804) 697-1580 or deirdre.fernandes@pilotonline.com.