[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 49, Volume 6]
[Revised as of October 1, 2006]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 49CFR563.11]

[Page 172-173]
 
                        TITLE 49--TRANSPORTATION
 
                   CHAPTER V--NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC
                    SAFETY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT
                            OF TRANSPORTATION
 
PART 563_EVENT DATA RECORDERS--Table of Contents
 
Sec.  563.11  Information in owner's manual.

    (a) The owner's manual in each vehicle covered under this regulation 
must provide the following statement in English:

    This vehicle is equipped with an event data recorder (EDR). The main 
purpose of an EDR is to record, in certain crash or near crash-like 
situations, such as an air bag deployment or hitting a road obstacle, 
data that will assist in understanding how a vehicle's systems 
performed. The EDR is designed to record data related to vehicle 
dynamics and safety systems for a short period of time, typically 30 
seconds or less. The EDR in this vehicle is designed to record such data 
as:
     How various systems in your vehicle were 
operating;
     Whether or not the driver and passenger safety 
belts were buckled/fastened;
     How far (if at all) the driver was depressing the 
accelerator and/or brake pedal; and,
     How fast the vehicle was traveling.
    These data can help provide a better understanding of the 
circumstances in which crashes and injuries occur. NOTE: EDR data are 
recorded by your vehicle only if a non-trivial crash situation occurs; 
no data are recorded by the EDR under normal driving conditions and no 
personal data (e.g., name, gender, age, and crash location) are 
recorded. However, other parties, such as law enforcement, could combine 
the EDR data with the type of personally identifying data routinely 
acquired during a crash investigation.
    To read data recorded by an EDR, special equipment is required, and 
access to the vehicle or the EDR is needed. In addition to the vehicle 
manufacturer, other parties, such as law enforcement, that have the 
special

[[Page 173]]

equipment, can read the information if they have access to the vehicle 
or the EDR.

    (b) The owner's manual may include additional information about the 
form, function, and capabilities of the EDR, in supplement to the 
required statement in Sec.  563.11(a).