Event Data Recorders

Our research uses the Event Data Recorder (EDR) data recorded in real world collisions to study the mechanisms of injury in highway crashes.

 
 
EDRS from GM and Ford vehicles
  
EDRs can record up to 5 seconds pre-crash and 300 milliseconds of crash data.
 

The EDR in a colliding vehicle can provide a comprehensive snapshot of the entire crash event – both pre-crash, crash, and post-crash. By carefully collecting and analyzing the details provided by the growing number of EDR-equipped vehicles, the crash safety research community has an unprecedented opportunity to understand the interaction of the vehicle-roadside-driver system as experienced in thousands of U.S. highway accidents each year. NHTSA estimates that most current production U.S. cars and light trucks are now equipped with some level of EDR functionality. Our group has constructed and is extensively analyzing a database of over 3000 EDR downloads from actual highway crashes as a promising new basis for quantifying the impact injury tolerance of humans.

Reports

  1. Gabler, H.C., Thor, C.P., and Hinch J., “Preliminary Evaluation of Advanced Air Bag Field Performance Using Event Data Recorders”, U.S. Department of Transportation, Research and Innovative Technology Administration, DOT HS 811 015 (August 2008)
  2. Gabler, H.C., Gabauer, D.J., Newell, H., and O’Neill, M., “Use of Event Data Recorder (EDR) Technology for Highway Crash Data Analysis, Final Report”, Report to the Transportation Research Board, National Academies of Science, NCHRP Project 17-24 (December 2004)
  3. Gabler, H.C., Gabauer, D.J., Newell, H., and O’Neill, M., “Use of Event Data Recorder (EDR) Technology for Highway Crash Data Analysis, Final Report (appendices) ”, Report to the Transportation Research Board, National Academies of Science, NCHRP Project 17-24 (December 2004)

Publications

  1. Gabler HC and Hinch J, “Evaluation of Advanced Air Bag Deployment Algorithm Performance using Event Data Recorders”, Annals of Advances in Automotive Medicine, v.52, pp. 175-184 (2008)
  2. Funk JR, Cormier JM and Gabler HC, “Effect of Delta-V Errors in NASS on Frontal Crash Risk Calculation”, Annals of Advances in Automotive Medicine, v.52, pp. 155-164 (2008)
  3. Gabler, H.C. and Hinch, J., “Characterization of Advanced Air Bag Field Performance using Event Data Recorders”, Proceedings of the Twentieth International Conference on Enhanced Safety of Vehicles, Paper No. 07-0349, Lyons, France (June 2007)
  4. Gabauer, D.J. and Gabler, H.C., “Comparison of Delta-V and Occupant Impact Velocity Crash Severity Metrics using Event Data Recorders”, 50th Annual Proceedings of the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine, Chicago, IL (October 2006)
  5. Niehoff, P., Gabler, H.C., Brophy, J. Chidester, A., Hinch, J., and Ragland, C., “Evaluation of Event Data Recorders in Full Systems Crash Tests“, Proceedings of the Nineteenth International Conference on Enhanced Safety of Vehicles, Paper No. 05-0271, Washington, DC (June 2005)
  6. Gabauer, D.J., and Gabler, H.C., “Evaluation of Acceleration Severity Index Threshold Values Utilizing Event Data Recorder Technology”, Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 1904, pp. 37-45, TRB, National Research Council, Washington, DC, (2005)
  7. Gabauer, D.J., and Gabler, H.C., “A Comparison of Roadside Crash Test Occupant Risk Criteria Using Event Data Recorder Technology”, Proceedings of the 2004 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact, Graz, Austria (September 2004)
  8. Gabler, H.C., Hampton, C.E., and Hinch, J., “Crash Severity: A Comparison of Event Data Recorder Measurements with Accident Reconstruction Estimates”, SAE Paper No. 2004-01-1194 (March 2004)
  9. Gabauer, D.J., and Gabler, H.C., “A Methodology to Evaluate the Flail Space Model Utilizing Event Data Recorder Technology”, Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 1890, pp.49-57, TRB, National Research Council, Washington, DC (2004)
  10. Gabler, H.C., Hampton, C., and Roston, T., “Estimating Crash Severity: Can Event Data Recorders Replace Crash Reconstruction?” Proceedings of the Eighteenth International Conference on Enhanced Safety of Vehicles, Nagoya, Japan. (May 2003)