General Question

msh's avatar

Why don't cars made for the US, and some other countries, have options such as dash-cam?

Asked by msh (4270points) February 7th, 2016
9 responses
“Great Question” (1points)

Many European and Eastern Block countries-clear on over to many Pacific nations, have dashcams as a purchase option, or there exists a more commonly available product market for such. Common sense for increased driver safety and behavior as presented. Motor scooters and larger motorcycles regularly have such camera options available also.
The more-recent brillant meteor strikes have been recorded on such devices located on vehicle dashboards. The tragic plane accident which killed passengers as it crashed onto a highway was captured on such a dashcam, the images recorded were used by officials as they pieced together the crash timeline while investigating the accident.
Insurance Industry studies note the decline of lawsuit claims relating to automobiles in some heavily trafficked foreign city areas where dash-cams are prevalent.
One option which is available from some manufacturers of the product, tout that the current increase of ‘Road Rage’ and other questionable driver interactions, had a dramatic drop in the number of occurrences with the dashcam option. (Should one wish to research the available statistical data outside of the sales aspect.)
Insurance rates could then offer lower premium rates and therefore make more-affordable insurance available for many illegally uninsured drivers on the roads today. Long range implications might make the enforcement of various laws towards bad drivers and their possible negligence, easier to prosecute. Eye witness accounts would not involve the often difficult task of providing evidence in legal recourse.
So why are so many without such a device or option to have included in new vehicle purchases?
Should there be consorted effort taken towards higher availability of these products in today’s motor vehicles?

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Answers

canidmajor's avatar

Well, I don’t know, you’d probably need to ask the manufacturers, but maybe (just speculation here) they didn’t feel it would be cost-effective, as so many models are available independently. Enter “automobile dash camera” into the Amazon search bar and see what comes up. It’s a pretty comprehensive selection for the casual consumer.

LuckyGuy's avatar

They will. Give it 2 or 3 more years.
Rear, backup cameras are already required on most vehicles made after 2015, .but they were added for safety.
Front cams will be used to augment the auto braking, auto cruise, auto obstacle avoidance functions that currently use radar alone. Combine the two and you have a much more robust system.
Patience, Grasshopper. Patience.

JLeslie's avatar

They would probably charge a fortune. I’d guess cheaper to buy a GoPro. Although, people buy nav systems in their cars and half of them suck and are 5 times the price of buying your own separately, or you can always use your smartphone. The only nav system I have used in a car that was great was in my Ford truck.

I think the car manufacturers probably will eventually offer the cameras as an option.

CWOTUS's avatar

Perhaps … I’m just thinking corporate here for a bit … there are legal issues having to do with what the cameras might record (and what might also be mandated to be recorded) which could involve manufacturers in liability lawsuits that they don’t want to be a party to – even if it’s not their own liability that’s at issue.

Once the cameras are universally in place to record video, they can also be required to store all kinds of other environmental and operating data, and those infringements on drivers’ liberties would not be a strong selling point in the new-car market, especially if the recordings can be confiscated at the point of a collision and then used in court against the driver.

ibstubro's avatar

Black boxes in cars in the US are still controversial, although now mandated by law.

Red light cameras are wildly unpopular in the US, despite the fact that they present 0% threat to law abiding drivers.

Dashcam + Black box = legal nightmare in the United States.

A lot of that it founded – look at the varied interpretations that police dashcams are subject to.
There is a lot irrational fear about our actions being recorded, but there is such a history of the abuse of knowledge by the State in human history that it’s still a healthy fear.
Fact of the matter is, we’re forging ahead with creating a digital fingerprint that no one really knows how to safeguard. I don’t really want technology in my car recording everything I do when a hacker could reveal a way for anyone to access it tomorrow.

SecondHandStoke's avatar

I do not want it.

Post crash it will be clear by evidence that not only did I not cause the crash, but that I did everything possible to avoid it, and if avoidance was impossible did all I could to reduce the severity.

elbanditoroso's avatar

I think that @CWOTUS is right, at least partially. There’s liability here.

And @ibstubro hits the other point about privacy. Would the video be recorded (almost certainly)? Who would have access to it? Police? Parents? the NSA?

I think that the US population doesn’t like being spied upon, and they’re not going to embrace even more spying in what is normally considered a “private place”,

ibstubro's avatar

I was in a wreck that was clearly my fault. I simply did not see a car, and pulled out in front of it. Turns out that I worked with the woman that was driving the other car, and was friendly with her. I told her, I told the cop, I told the insurance company: “I did not see her and pulled into the path of her car.”

She got a partial settlement.
Do you know why?
When the cop said, “How fast were you going on the 30 MPH city street?” she replied, “30 MPH, I know because I had set my cruise control.”

My insurance adjuster caught that red flag. “Cruise control.”
Seems you’re not supposed to have cruise engaged on a city street, so, even though it was 6 a.m. in the morning, there were only two cars on the road, and I admitted 100% fault, the insurance company found a way to screw her out of part of her settlement.

No, I don’t want a dash cam.
No, I don’t want a black box.
No I don’t want to give Big Brother another tool to screw the little guy…He’s already millions of dollars worth ot lawyers to do that.

kritiper's avatar

Expense. Adding more and more stuff to cars drives up the price thus reducing sales. If you really want one, or need one, spec it out when you order the car (and pay a hefty price), or buy an after-market unit and install it yourself.

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