Mandatory ‘Big Brother’ Black Boxes In All New Cars From 2015

Who do you think is behind this kind of thing? Who do you think funds the traffic cams? Who would benefit from being able to claim you were in some way responsible for the accident you were involved in?



Robert
 
Technology like this is one of the things that'll keep me in older cars. I won't even own something with OnStar onboard (physically removed the system from my last two GMs). Paranoid? Me?
 
I'm with you Accumulator!

Had a friend ask me about the Progressive Snap Shot add-on if they bought that insurance.

Told them,"you better cross your "t" and dot all your "i" if you do that.

It is a way for them to either raise your rates or cancel you if their bottom line is not up to snuff that quarter.

I don't own a 4G phone and don't ever plan to.

It's nothing but a tracking device for advertisers, etc.

Of course I am a strong opponent of texting as well, just produces to many serious accidents when being used while driving.

Grumpy
 
I'm all for it for accident investigations ONLY. Being an EMT, we see a lot of bad crashes and people seem to do anything to get out of responsibilities for their actions. As much as I love fast and stylish cars, I absolutely hate those that feel as if the public streets that are used by our loved ones are their own personal race track. Seen it too many times! Again if it's used only for accident investigations, I say go for it. Other uses for revenue generating purposes should definitely be a no go.
 
Accumulator said:
Technology like this is one of the things that'll keep me in older cars. I won't even own something with OnStar onboard (physically removed the system from my last two GMs). Paranoid? Me?
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OnStar doesn't bother me so much, but yeah, I'm definitely becoming big on the idea of sticking with my older vehicles. I'll probably be keeping my 2008 truck on the road for a long, long time! Who knows, with Autopian-style maintenance it may outlast me :chuckle:
 
Barry Theal- Sigh...buddy, bravery and personal freedom are out of fashion these days :sadpace: Just wait and see how our fellow Americans feel about it this November :rolleyes:



C. Charles Hahn- Heh heh, you're too young to be sounding like me (with regard to older cars)!



But yeah, whoever gets my good cars after I'm gone can finish breaking them in.



Regarding OnStar, the stuff that can be done via that system would curl your hair. Fortunately the alphabet-soup-agency guys seldom [mess] with "normal folks", but I'm still not gonna leave myself vulnerable to that kind of [stuff].
 
Accumulator said:
C. Charles Hahn- Heh heh, you're too young to be sounding like me (with regard to older cars)!
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Maybe, but the more they start talking about "self driving cars" with adaptive cruise control, collision avoidance/intervention systems, automated lane centering, etc. it makes me less and less eager to buy cars with such systems in them.



As much as I am a proponent of technological advancements, putting my life in the hands of a computer just doesn't sit well with me. Probably because I've worked with a lot of the people who do the programming of said computers and I wouldn't trust them with my life either :o
 
C. Charles Hahn- I agree completely...*for those of us who can drive*. The intervention thresholds on most vehicles are way below what I know I can do, but that's me and I've BTDT.



The S8's ESC is pretty decent, but had I not turned it off I'm 100% certain my deer incident wouldn't have been so minor. I had to turn off the one on the Yukon XLD lest it have me "what the....?!?" even in normal driving. Heh heh, I didn't have the TBSS long enough to play with its system.



Assuming they're working right (and oh man is *that* one big @$$umption!!) the systems on some really high-end performance cars are beyond what mere mortals can reliably do, but those systems are from the same people who can't keep other parts of the car working right. Still, they might take away the "doctor killer" aspect of such vehicles.



For the average driver, who cannot pull off 4/10ths driving in emergent situations, I'm actually all for the computer running the car. And if somebody can't parallel park, I'd rather the machine did it than my car get hit.
 
Whenever you see things like this you should check these guys for involvement. ALEC



Very often, light cameras, stop sign cameras and the like are funded by insurance companies who, when you get a ticket, pounce on the opportunity to raise your rates. Then of course, there was the wiretapping of basically all our phone calls under the cover of counter terrorism, done under the Bush administration, but never prosecuted by the Obama administration.
 
Accumulator said:
The S8's ESC is pretty decent, but had I not turned it off I'm 100% certain my deer incident wouldn't have been so minor. I had to turn off the one on the Yukon XLD lest it have me "what the....?!?" even in normal driving. Heh heh, I didn't have the TBSS long enough to play with its system.
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Believe me, you can be glad you never did have to play with the TBSS' StabiliTrak; it was/is terrible, as is the same system on our Envoy Denali. More than once it decided to take away my control of the throttle in situations where I would have been perfectly capable of keeping control. In fact there's a road we drive on pretty frequently that has a mild "bump" that no matter the speed, it triggers the system and takes the throttle away for ~5 seconds.
 
C. Charles Hahn- Heh heh, and that [crap] is from the same company that puts race-worthy suspension tech on Cadillac station wagons.
 
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