49 CFR Part 563
Definition
The NHTSA federal regulation requiring standardised EDR data elements, minimum accuracy specifications, and data durability requirements for passenger vehicles and light trucks sold in the United States from September 2012 onwards.
- Regulator
- NHTSA (US)
- Effective date
- September 2012
- Applies to
- Passenger vehicles and light trucks sold in the US
- Governs
- EDR data elements, accuracy and data durability
Common questions
Does Part 563 require every vehicle to have an EDR?+
No. It does not mandate that manufacturers install an EDR. It only sets the technical requirements, such as which data elements must be captured and how accurate they must be, for any EDR that is fitted to a covered vehicle.
How does this regulation matter in a crash reconstruction?+
It standardises what a downloaded EDR record contains and how reliable it should be across manufacturers, which is what lets a reconstructionist compare pre-crash speed, braking and belt-status data against physical scene evidence with confidence.
Related terms
- CDR Tool
- The Bosch Crash Data Retrieval tool: the industry-standard hardware-software system used to interface with automotive EDR modules via the OBD diagnostic port...
- Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR)
- An aircraft recording device that captures audio from the cockpit area microphone and crew headsets over the last 2 hours (minimum) of...
- Delta-V
- The change in vehicle velocity during the crash event, recorded by the EDR as a time-history. It is the integral of the...
- Event Data Recorder (EDR)
- An onboard module that records pre-crash vehicle kinematics (speed, throttle, brake, steering) in the seconds before airbag deployment; governed by SAE J1698...
- Flight Data Recorder (FDR)
- A mandatory aircraft recording device under ICAO Annex 6 that captures 25 or more flight parameters over at least the last 25...