Come 2013, the federal government may require cars manufacturers to install black boxes, the event data recorders that store information about your driving, into every vehicle made for sale. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration wants you to weigh-in on whether this is OK with you or not.

The NHTSA proposed the new rule early in December, but it is looking for “comments” on the rule, to be submitted by Feb. 11. It notes that “comments … are most useful if submitted within 30 days.” You can comment online, through snail mail, and hand delivery if you’re in Washington, D.C. You can find instructions for comments on the government regulations website.

Black boxes record information when a car is performing certain potentially dangerous actions such as swerving and abrupt braking. It also takes note of how fast a person is driving, whether the seat belts are in use, how many people are in the car, and other data points.

The agency specifically states that this data will be used to “understand vehicle crashes more precisely.” It’ll also give this information to manufacturers so that they can create new safety features and implement these into future car designs. The proposal also states that it could give out data to emergency response teams, who can gather as much information as possible before arriving at the scene of the accident.

As Wired notes, EPIC, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, has a section on black boxes and asks questions about who will own the data, what types of data can be collected now and in the future, and if consumers should be told the black boxes exist before the purchase the car.

Car image via Shutterstock

Black boxes, or flight data recorders as they are formally called, have been crucial in analyzing plane crashes since about the mid-20th century. The tamper-proof devices record the activity of a plane’s electrical systems and can even record conversations in the cockpit to understand what led to a plane crash.

Likewise, an EDR can record the details leading up to an automobile accident. Several different types of EDRs exist, some that continuously record information and others that are activated by accident-like conditions, such as sudden decreases in velocity, airbag deployment, or slamming on a car’s brakes. EDRs often integrate with a passenger car’s restraint system and after an airbag is deployed, car system data are recorded to the device for later examination. The data can be used for insurance purposes and in court cases to determine precisely what happened during a car accident.

Senate Bill 1813, titled the “Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act” was proposed by Senators Barbara Boxer and Harry Reid and is expected to pass in the House. The text of the bill states, “Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall revise part 563 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, to require, beginning with model year 2015, that new passenger motor vehicles sold in the United States be equipped with an event data recorder that meets the requirements under that part.”

Bill 1813 also stipulates that the car’s owner or lessee owns the data recorded by the EDR and no one else can retrieve it unless there is a medical emergency from a car crash or the data is needed in a legal investigation.

InfoWars attacked the bill for its “Big Brother” nature, saying it takes away a driver’s privacy and lets others find out where we are driving and when. They also criticized it for laying the ground work for more invasive automobile communication devices in the future.

However, EDRs have been voluntarily installed in commercial automobiles for several years. A 2006 report from The National Institute of Highway Safety showed that at least 64 percent of cars surveyed in 2005 had an EDR installed. One hundred percent of cars made by General Motors, Ford, Isuzu, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Subaru, and Suzuki came equipped with EDRs. It’s likely that my 2003 Suzuki Aerio came with an EDR that would activate should I ever be in an accident. Check you owner’s manual and you might find a section with warnings and information about the device in your car — your car’s manufacturer was required to put it there.

Despite privacy concerns over the bill, it may end up reducing privacy problems in the long run. It explicitly states that the owner of the car owns the EDR data, an issue that has been debated in the past.

Does an EDR raise privacy concerns for you? Let us know in the comments.

Car crash image via Shutterstock