Event data recorder

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Event data recorder" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (November 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions. (October 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

An event data recorder (EDR), more specifically motor vehicle event data recorder (MVEDR), similar to an accident data recorder, (ADR) sometimes referred to informally as an automotive black box (by analogy with the common nickname for flight recorders), is a device installed in some automobiles to record information related to traffic collisions. In the USA EDRs must meet federal standards, as described within the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations.^[1][2]

The term generally refers to a simple, tamper-proof, read-write memory device. The role of the EDR is limited compared to journey data recorders such as digital tachographs in Europe or electronic logging device in the USA,^[3] which may also be referred to as a black box or in-vehicle data recorder.

In modern diesel trucks, EDRs are triggered by electronically sensed problems in the engine (often called faults), or a sudden change in wheel speed. One or more of these conditions may occur because of an accident. Information from these devices can be collected after a crash and analyzed to help determine what the vehicles were doing before, during and after the crash or event.