Black box threat to drivers who crash

By BERT FELT

New Zealand buyers of Saab motor vehicles may be driving away with more than they bargained for as the Swedish manufacturer embeds "black boxes" in its cars to monitor every aspect of their performance and use.

The Swedish data privacy watchdog Datainspektionen, a Government body with similar powers to a New Zealand district court, may convict Saab for breaches of the local privacy laws as Saab has not informed owners that they have mounted a secret "black box" in the later models of the car (9-3 and 9-5 series) to collect data on how the car is driven.

Sean Clark, vehicle sales manager at Saab dealership Schofield, was unaware that the computers were included in late-model Saabs.

But a workshop manager at Schofield confirmed that the "black box" was mounted in all new Saab cars selling in New Zealand and had been for the past 18 months.

He said mini-computers monitored such things as the engine, brakes and airbag, sending data to a central computer.

The data was routinely accessed during servicing.

A spokesman for the New Zealand Police, Jon Neilson, said that if the police wished to obtain data from the cars to present in court as evidence, a search warrant would have to be obtained.

The "black box" is said to continuously register data on how the car is driven - speed, throttle position, engine revolutions, gear used, through to temperature, open or shut doors and if seatbelts were in use.

The data is registered in a buffer memory, and after a set time overwritten with new data.

In the event of a crash, recording stops and the data can be retrieved.

Saab says it will ask the owner for permission to retrieve the data, and that it is immediately "de-personalised" and used only for research.

But in police hands the information could be highly incriminating for a driver after an accident.

Laws have been passed in many countries to allow for recorders to be installed in heavy vehicles such as buses and trucks to note speed and distance travelled.

But many fear the new electronic systems open possibilities for "Big Brother" type surveillance by authorities or insurance companies.

Saab Sweden claims that it will not hand the information over to the owner or the police in Sweden, but it has handed over all information to police in the United States.Swedish Volvo and American GM also have mounted similar black boxes in their cars and have stated that they freely hand over the information to police and insurance companies.

Toyota is also said to have collected similar data in co-operation with an overseas insurance company.

The Volvo, GM and Toyota devices are understood not to be in use here.

Privacy Commissioner Bruce Slane was not available for comment.