DETROIT—Investigators who are looking into the rollover crash that injured golf legend Tiger Woods will rely heavily on data stored in the Genesis SUV he was driving to figure out what happened.
The 2021 GV80, made by the Hyundai luxury brand, is likely to have a newer version of event data recorders nicknamed “black boxes” after more sophisticated recorders in airplanes. They store a treasure trove of data for authorities to review.
There aren’t any US regulations requiring the boxes, but the government does require the recorders to store 15 data points including speed before impact and whether brake and gas pedals were pressed.
The regulations don’t cover new partially automated systems that can control speed, brake and steer cars on freeways, and they don’t address cameras and radar used in those systems. But some vehicles store some of the new systems’ data.
Woods suffered a serious leg injury when the SUV he was driving went off a Los Angeles County road and rolled over on a downhill stretch known for crashes. The county sheriff said Woods was not drunk and was driving alone in good weather when the SUV hit a raised median, went across oncoming lanes and rolled several times. The crash injured his right leg, requiring surgery.
It’s not clear how much of the crash Woods recalls, but the black box data should be able to fill in gaps.
WHAT IS AN EVENT DATA RECORDER?
IT’S a computer that stores data from a vehicle’s sensors that can be downloaded by police officers investigating a crash. The boxes usually are below the center of the dashboard or beneath seats to be protected from damage.
IS THERE ONE IN MY CAR?
MOST likely yes. The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says nearly all vehicles have them now. Even during the 2005 model year, 64 percent of vehicles had the boxes. General Motors put the first recorder in a vehicle in 1994 that stored limited data, said Richard Ruth, who runs a Washington, DC-based consulting firm that does crash investigations and trains police officers in crash reconstruction.
WHAT DATA DOES IT STORE?
A FEDERAL regulation effective with the 2013 model year requires event data recorders to store 15 items, including speed up to five seconds before impact, whether and how much the gas pedal was pressed, whether the brakes were applied, whether the driver’s seat belt was fastened, whether the front air bags inflated and how long that took, and the change in forward speed. Newer versions of the boxes can store sideways force taken from gyroscopes, measuring how fast a vehicle rolled over or whether antilock brakes and stability control were operating.
WHAT DID THE SUV WOODS WAS DRIVING STORE?
A GENESIS spokesman wouldn’t say, but Ruth said other models made by Hyundai and affiliated automaker Kia record more than the required data. Some record steering angle before the crash, which would show how much the driver tried to avoid a crash, he said.
The Kia Forte compact car, for example, records how much pressure was on the brake pedal so investigators can see how hard a driver was braking.
Newer vehicles like the Genesis SUV are equipped with automatic emergency braking and other safety systems from which the box could also record data. AP
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