Abstract
An event data recorder (EDR) records the vehicle status at the timing of an accident. Toyota Motor Corporation began the sequential introduction of EDRs onto its vehicles from August 2000. Currently, about 70% of all Toyota’s vehicles in North America are equipped with an EDR, which is more than the average rate of EDR installation in vehicles in North America (around 50%). The U.S. has introduced regulations for EDRs. Toyota regards these as minimum requirements and also records additional data for accident analysis, including the following: (1) pre-crash data, (2) side crash data, (3) rollover data, (4) pedestrian protection pop-up hood (PUH) data, and (5) vehicle control history (VCH) data from a non-crash triggered recording system. The regulations stipulate that EDR data retrieval must be possible using a commercially available tool. The developed system uses the Crash Data Retrieval (CDR) tool manufactured by Bosch. Data from all Toyota EDRs around the world can be retrieved using the CDR tool, including in North America. Since EDR data collection and analysis are very important for real-world accident analysis, an automatic online EDR data collection system was constructed with the cooperation of Bosch. Toyota is currently developing new systems using EDR data. As an example, making effective use of crash severity ΔV and seatbelt data, the Advanced Automatic Collision Notification (AACN) system is due to start trials in Japan from November 2015. The expansion of EDR functions and system development using EDR data are likely to continue growing in importance.