A New Bill Requiring "Black Boxes" In Cars

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An amended version of the Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 2010 was recently passed by the House Energy and Commerce Committee creating legislation responding to crashes associated with recently-reported vehicle failures. The amended version now requires "black boxes" in all cars.

The bill will double National Highway Traffic Safety Administration funding to $280 million over three years, and establishes a $3 per new-vehicle-sale "vehicle safety user fee" that will increase to $9 per new-vehicle-sale in the same timeframe. Unintended acceleration, which in part prompted the introduction of the Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 2010, has reportedly contributed to 102 deaths over the past decade. 

The cost of technical requirements is up to the NHTSA. The bill will also raise the agency's budget and create a vehicle safety user fee on each car, which will be paid by the manufacturer to help fund NHTSA operations and requires hybrid and electric cars to have "alert sounds" that would help pedestrians detect the vehicle's presence.