bluesky_8

I read from other boards and cnn that 65 to 90% of new cars have some sort of recording capability (aka "Black Box"). Does anyone know if the e60 has a "black box" that records data like speed, brake application and seat belt use, and, if so, what kind of data is stored in it, and where?

Iceman

AFAIK the car only has something like that for the error messages.
A real black box... I haven't heard about that yet...
I know you can add one to EVERY car, but I don't think any car has a black box as a standard...

paasan

I think I've read somewhere that BMWs in Germany transmit some sort of information back to BMW through some sort of network? My memories about this are vague..

Aaron

Almost all cars have black boxes now. The OEMs will require one or more ECUs to to keep a record(buffer) of information. Then, in the event of an accident, the ECU will store that information to be read later. This is all for legality sake, but if there was a problem with the airbag not going off, but the weight sensor in the seat not reading correctly, then the make of the airbag controller could ward off all lawsuits and direct those to the occupant detection supplier.

Or, lets say you get into an accident, and you say your seatbelt was faulty which is why you hit your head on the steering. There may be an ECU in the vehicle that has stored the data which contains seat belt switch information, and it may even be able to tell you how long it was buckled or unbuckled, or whether or not it was functional. I wouldn't call them a black box persay, but with all of the data that is stored in cars today, you can basically reconstruct the accident.

It has happened many times when people's front airbag didn't go off, and they feel it should. They may say they were going 40mph, but the wheelspeed sensor data will show that they were only traveling 15 and that the impact force (which is also recorded with satellite g-impact sensors) wasn't large enough to deploy the airbag. These cars are very sophisticated, and will only become more so in the future. Sorry for the long post...

sj3

I don't remember if I heard this from my '98 328i's service advisor or from the 540i guy, but the car does keep info like max rev's and max speed. Not sure what other info is kept. I also remember seeing posts during the initial stages of the M3's engine troubles (I'm not intimate with the subject). The dealers were using this 'black box' info to tell owners that they had mis-treated the engine.

Sam

Iceman

I remember that too...
but it's not a real black box, because it's not built for reconstructing accidents... It's there for other purpose...

Rudy

All cars from 1996 and up provide an OBDII connector where you can plug in and read diagnostics. There is a product called the CarChip that is basically a memory chip to log the data available through the ODBII interface.

Here's a link for detailed information on what CarChip can do.

Now BMW may have some onboard memory doing the same thing to allow techs to read certain data and I've talked to techs that said certain stuff is stored to be able to help troubleshoot and to be able to prove abuse if needed so I'm not too sure what might be there from the factory...

Here's information on where the OBD port is located:

Iceman

Interesting info.

530E60NL

The car in the pdf doesn't have the trunkbutton too. Can anybody see in TIS if the E60 is prewired for the button. I know that my old E46 wasn't.

Iceman

That would indeed be great. I allready thought about getting a retrofit, because it really sux not having it, but having the space for the button.
If there would just be the pre-wiring, but I doubt it is...