Cars will record four times more crash data, but not for another year

New rules will require cars to record 20 seconds of pre-crash data at a higher sample rate, up from 5 seconds. This means investigators will have much more information about what happened right before a crash.

For years, crash investigators had limited data from event recorders, often missing critical moments before an impact. This change means they will have a clearer picture of vehicle behavior and driver actions leading up to an accident. It will make it easier to assign liability and understand how safety systems perform in real-world conditions.