"In the next few days, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is
expected to propose long-delayed regulations requiring auto manufacturers to
include event data recorders — better known as "black boxes" — in all new
cars and light trucks. . . When a car is involved in a crash or when its
airbags deploy, inputs from the vehicle's sensors during the 5 to 10 seconds
before impact are automatically preserved. That's usually enough to record
things like how fast the car was traveling and whether the driver applied
the brake, was steering erratically or had a seat belt on."

http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2012/...#ixzz2ENkLjj2o