Black Box

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Telephone: 518-478-6616
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"THREE SISTERS" Description: One of three allegorical representations of civil law from 14th century Italy. A book of law, the globe or affairs of the world balanced against the hook of commerce. The sword of strength and crown of just rewards.

Original painting by Trevor Goring in the private collection of Powers & Santola, LLP.

THE “BLACK BOX” continue...

The Ford Motor Company System

Ford began installing a single Restraint Control system (RCM) beginning in 1997. The primary function of the RCM was to control deployment of occupant protection systems (air bags, seat belt pre-tensioner, etc.). In addition, the RCM system stored a limited amount of air bag deployment data. Ford introduced a more advanced RCM in its model year 2000 Taurus and Sable vehicles that were equipped with advanced occupant protection. This system records longitudinal and lateral acceleration, along with some data related to the driver and passenger air bag deployment including: 80 milliseconds of crash pulse; deployment strategy of the dual-stage air bag system; seat belt use; pre-tensioner operation; and driver seat position.

The Ford system is different than the Vetronix CDR tool. Unlike the Vetronix CDR, the Ford system only allows the user to connect directly between a notebook computer and the vehicle’s diagnostic connector (J1962 or Universal Serial Bus Connector). Unlike the Vetronix tool, the Ford unit cannot simulate the on-board bus or sensors, therefore the unit cannot be connected directly to the to the RCMs. Thus, in those cases when the vehicle’s electrical system has been damaged in the crash, EDR boxes must be removed and sent to Ford for downloading. Further, the RCM were designed to be reusable. The Ford RCM does not store the crash event file in a permanent or incorruptible format. It will be overwritten by the next deployment event. In addition, the Ford software only provides a hexadecimal file that must be interpreted by the manufacturer.

Another major shortcoming of the Ford RCM system has been noted when there has been a complete electrical system failure in the Taurus/Sable. When this has occurred, an incomplete file was written from the EDR. This resulted in lost data in most of the severe crashes involving these vehicle.

The Following is a List of Firms and Individuals that Provide Event Data Recorder (EDR) Data Recovery Services:

Arizona	Salem Boys Auto Mark Salem 1025 West Warner Tempe, AZ 85284 Telephone: 480-598-1234 E-mail: Mark@marksalem.com Web site: www.marksalem.com
California	Delta Analysis Timothy Staab 6044 Park Crest Drive Chino Hills, CA 91709 Telephone: 888-81-CRASH E-mail: deltacrash@earthlink.net Web site: www.deltacrash.com Fimbres Investigations Mark Fimbres/Owner 2450 W. Beechwood Avenue Fresno, CA 93711 Telephone: 559-432-2102 Fax: 559-432-4678 E-mail: markfimbres@aol.com Edward Phillips & Assoc. Ed Phillips 466 Benevente Drive Oceanside, CA 92057 Telephone: 760-721-5552 Fax: 760-721-5549 E-mail: edphill1@cox.net

Colorado	Colorado Collision Consultants, Inc. Bill Mael P.O. Box 795 Fort Collins, CO 80522 Telephone: 970-482-7575 E-mail: bmael@juno.com Web site: www.colorado-collision.com Impact Consulting Engineers, LLC Herbert C. Newbold, P.E. 1436 Main Street Louisville, CO Telephone: 303-666-8811 Fax: 303-666-8998 E-mail: hnewbold@impactce.com Web site: www.impactce.com
District of Columbia	D. P. Plant & Associates David P. Plant, P.E. 1722 V Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20009 Telephone: 202-232-8929 Fax: 202-318-0663 E-mail: dpplant@aol.com
Georgia	Ralph Cunningham 1804 Thornhill Pass, S.E. Conyers, GA 30013 Telephone: 770-918-0973 Cell: 770-378-5568 Fax: 770-918-8076 E-mail: ralphc@mindspring.com Web site: www.mindspring.com/~ralphc
Illinois	William L. Newman, Jr. 836 E. Rand Road, #180 Arlington Heights, IL 60004-4008 Telephone: 847-650-2800 E-mail: newman@crash-data.com Packer Engineering Michael R. Bracki 1950 North Washington Street Naperville, IL 60566 Telephone: 630-505-5722 Fax: 630505-1986 E-mail: mrb@packereng.com Web site: http://packereng.com/
Indiana	Stephan M. Neese & Associates, Inc. Stephan Neese P.O. Box 34 Schererville, IN 46375 Telephone: 219-322-7639 Fax: 219-864-9540 E-mail: smneese@neese-assoc.com Web site: www.neese-assoc.com Michael E. Walters 7725 Cambridge Drive Fishers, IN 46038 Telephone: 317-577-9817 E-mail: trkcrash@worldnet.att.net
Louisiana	Gonzales & Associates Al & Wade Gonzales 1011 E. Hazel St. Gonzales, LA 70737 Telephone: 225-644-0295 Fax: 225-647-6137 E-mail: wagonz@eatel.net E-mail: algonz@eatel.net Web site: www.gonzales-car.com
Maryland	R.J. Squire & Associates, Inc. Robert Squire P.O. Box 903 Pasadena, MD 21123 Telephone: 410-360-8140 Fax: 410-360-5319 E-Mail: rsquire@rjsquire.com Website: www.rjsquire.com Warshaw Engineering David P. Warshaw, P.E. 13 South Beaumont Avenue Baltimore, MD 21228 Telephone: 410-744-0845 Fax: 410-744-0845 E-mail: dave@crashman.org Website: www.crashman.org
New Hampshire	Collision Analysis & Academics, Inc. Gordon "Chip" Johnston P.O. Box 850 Hampton, NH 03843-0850 Telephone: 603-926-0624 Fax: 603-929-0744 E-mail: chipj@nh.ultranet.com Web site: www.TheCrashExperts.com Mechanical Forensics Engineering Services, LLC Wade Bartlett 145 Charles Street Rochester, NH 03867 Telephone: 603-332-3267 E-mail: wade@mfes.com Web site: http://mfes.com
New York	Bob Burns 48 Harper Drive Pittsford, NY 14534 Telephone: 585-248-2319 Fax: 585-248-0768 E-mail: rburns02@rochester.rr.com John McManus, P.E. 3990 Purchase Street Purchase, New York 10577 Telephone: 914-422-0521 E-mail: JMAC3990@aol.com
Ohio	Introtech, Inc. 1006 Vivian Drive, W. Grafton, OH 44044 Telephone: 440-926-2627 Fax: 440-926-2684 E-mail: Introtec@gte.net
Pennsylvania	Commonwealth Transportation Consultants Richard K. Baade, BSME, CEO 38 Stoneridge Drive New Freedom, PA 17349 Telephone: 717-235-4988 Cell: 717-994-5779 E-mail: comtrancon@nmax.net Forensic Engineering Services, Inc. Dave Kassekert, P.E. 287 Church Hill Road Venetia, PA 15367 Telephone: 724-348-7606 E-mail: davewk9@141.com
Utah	MRA Forensic Sciences Matt Mecham 312 West 6100 South Murray, Utah 84107 Telephone: 800-747-6820 Email: mechammatt@aol.com
Washington	David C. Thornburg P.O. Box 48482 Spokane, WA 99228-1482 Telephone: 509-325-6510 E-mail: thorny@ieway.com Web site: www.collisionrecon.com/thorny.htm
Wisconsin	Great Lakes Crash Analysis, LLC Duane R. Meyers 4517 Cimarron Lane Green Bay, WI 54313 E-mail: duanemeyers@new.rr.com Web site: www.crashanalysis.net

Is the data from a “Black Box” admissible?

To date, there is only one reported case dealing with the admissibility of the data that is downloaded from an SDM. In July, 2002, the Appellate Court for the Fourth District of Illinois, applying a Frye standard, held that “the trial court did not abuse its discretion by (1) finding that the process of recording and downloading SDM data is sufficiently established to have gained general acceptance in the relevant scientific community and, thus, (2) determining that the Frye admissibility standard had been satisfied.”

Bachman v. General Motors Corporation, 2002 Ill. App. LEXIS 659 (Appellate Court of Illinois, Fourth District) July 29, 2002.

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