good point, why do the dealers pay 1500 bucks for the little diag recorder, when we "supposedly" have that already in the trucks?

 

I am sure there is some kind of insurance incentive and I bet they buy in bulk.

 

That was my thought too. You know I like my dealer I just hate the Bologna Sausage (I almost got warned by Tim on that one) you get from some of the people working there. I just like straight answers.

 

i dont think we'll ever get 'em from ford or their dealers. theres too much money goin in their pockets

 

I think most of the people at the dealers have limited knowledge and try too hard to give answers instead of saying "I don't know, I will find out." and they try to Bologna Sandwich (BS) their way out. I usually find someone that knows what they are talking about, ask them and smile at the rest.

 

A major problem and one that seems to be escalating

 

Correct, the sending unit is a 7 psi switch.

 

This is a very interesting questions with lots of ramifications.

 

Just a few points to keep in mind here. All indications so far are that the "black box" is not present on any vehicle that could possibly have a PSD in it. During an accident there is only so much data that will even be relevant to the occurrence. No one is going to want to sift through data trying to figure out what pertains to the accident. It is very logical to only record 20 seconds or so before airbag deployment and a few seconds after (not that anything is required to be logical). The other issue brought up by jasfaa,

Even if it is possible for them to recover this info (do they record EGT at all?) I can't see it being a warranty issue if that is the concern. Ford can and does limit the performance and operation of the vehicle through the computer. I can't see them being able to come back and say the truck blew up because "You were driving too fast", or "You let the EGT get too high". That would be the on board computer's responsibility. If they build the truck so it is capable of being driven at 90 MPH then it better be able to take it. (within reason of course, rolling the truck over at 90 MPH around a turn would be a tough one to blame on the computer. lol) If you build it they will drive it.

Regards,

Morris

 

many, many

 

Press release from NHTSA indicates "black boxes" to be installed (voluntarily) in all cars and light trucks by 2008 model year with specifications on the data to be recorded.

Thursday, June 10, 2004
NHTSA Proposes Requirements For Voluntarily Installed Event Data Recorders

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/nhtsa/annou...e=pr27-04.html

 

I asked my diesel mechanic today what was recorded in the black box and if it is a separate computer. His response was this. It is a separate box that records all of your driving habits. He did not know what the exact length of time that the information was kept in the computer but he said it was based on mileage. He stated that he thought it was around 5000 miles and it starts dumping information beyond that and recording over.

 

jasfaa, this again came from a very reputable tech:
That's a little different than what your source is telling you. So what's the real story?
Remember, go out to the vetronics site and read the FAQ's.

 

Hey like I said, He admitted he did not know exactly how long, he thought it was based on mileage and it was about 5000 Miles. If this is incorrect, I apologize for posting the information.

 

jasfaa, no problem. It is good to compare information. Maybe we will get the truth. What I have read from various sites is that it only stores the last 5 seconds before an "event". 5000 miles could be true if it was only storing limited parameters. I don't think it has the capacity to read/write all the parameters for that long, yet. In another couple years at the rate of technology development it is a high probabllity.