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Event Data Recorder (EDR) is a device to record vehicle and occupant information for a brief period of time before, during and after a crash event. EDR is one of the promising devices for accident reconstruction by recording important information e.g. vehicle speed, engine speed, brake switch, throttle and delta-V. However, in order to use EDR for an accident investigation, reliability and accuracy of those EDR data must be examined firstly. The aim of this study is to evaluate the characteristics of EDR and to understand the performance of EDR for the improvement of accident reconstruction with more reliable and accurate information on an accident in Japan. The analysis is based on J-NCAP crash tests from 2006 to 2009 with corresponding EDR datasets. Full-overlap frontal collision test and offset frontal collision test of fourteen car models were analyzed.

To understand the performance of Event Data Recorder (EDR) for the improvement of accident reconstruction using reliable and accurate information, two types of crash test data are analyzed. The first type is the J-NCAP crash tests for understanding the EDR characteristics under fundamental crash conditions and the second type involves three crash tests reconstructing typical real-world accidents for grasping the EDR performance under more complex crash conditions than J-NCAP crash tests. Data obtained from EDRs are compared with data obtained from instrumented sensors and high-speed video cameras. The velocities determined from pre-crash data and the maximum change in velocity, delta-V, obtained from post-crash data are analyzed. EDR pre-crash data shows good accuracy. In J-NCAP testing, all differences between the EDR recording value and the laboratory test velocity were less than 4%. EDR post-crash data has more difference from instrumented sensor data.