Honda in Japan has begun fitting cars in its Inspire range with aeroplane-style black box accident recorders.
Only available in Japan so far, the in-car black box consists of a 270,000-pixel CCD camera attached to the back of your rearview mirror which constantly records footage of your journey on to a memory card, Auto Express reports. The main unit is mounted separately, in many cases in the glove box or in the centre console.
Built-in motion sensor
If no incidents occur, the data is overwritten. But if the camera’s built-in motion sensor detects a collision, impact, sudden steering or an extraordinary acceleration/deceleration, it automatically records the scene in details (image/sound/speed/time etc.) from 12 seconds before the impact and eight seconds after it. You can also use the optional manual switch to record footage whenever you want.
Taxis, fleet companies and truck companies have been using this type of technology for a while, Honda said. The system includes a 512MB SD Card, which can record up to 15 scenes.
In Japan, the black box accident recorder system is applicable to 12 Honda models. The price is 54,600 Yen (£259), excluding fitting costs. At the moment, there are no plans to develop or launch this product for the European market, Honda said.
