Does Tesla provide driving data to insurance companies or law inforcement

[eJonny]

I was in a non-injury car accident on Tuesday night. The other car merged into my lane causing damage to a wheel, rear view mirror, and all panels from front door to rear quarter panel. Tesla repairs are expensive and the time to source the replacement parts has been quoted as at least 6 weeks.

After filing my claim, the other driver reported to his insurance company that I was driving erratically and I was the one out of my lane.

So, I am hoping that Tesla can release data to my insurance company so I don't have to pay my deductible.

USAA, my insurance company, is going to call the customer support number. But I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with this type of situation.

And yes, I will find a good dash cam. It's just such a shame to have to get something like that after buying a top end Model S, which should theoretically be able to perform all dash cam features more effectively.

 

[David99]

They will only release it with a court order. They will not send you the data even if you are the owner. For cases like these it is possible to hook up a data logger to the CAN bus and record it yourself. I would hope some company will develop and offer such a product in the future. I'm using Scan My Tesla but the amount of data is pretty large so it's not practical to keep it recording all the time.

 

[P85Dave]

You should see if Tesla has any Autopilot data if your car has Autopilot but apart from that you should really invest in front and rear dash cams for the future.

Also note that the Tesla Autopilot cameras are not optimized for color and higher frame rates that we are used to with video. Even if Tesla offered a limited Dash Cam capability, invest in a high resolution dash cam as you may need high enough resolution to read license plate numbers... I have 1080P front and rear dash cams but I will upgrade to 4K as soon as I find a suitable model. Never know when you need every pixel available to make out a grainy tag..

 

[P85Dave]

They will only release it with a court order. They will not send you the data even if you are the owner. For cases like these it is possible to hook up a data logger to the CAN bus and record it yourself. I would hope some company will develop and offer such a product in the future. I'm using Scan My Tesla but the amount of data is pretty large so it's not practical to keep it recording all the time.

Also this information is probably not cached for long so if you have any hope of getting this data, you need to have them pull the data soon...

 

[David99]

Also this information is probably not cached for long so if you have any hope of getting this data, you need to have them pull the data soon...

In case of an accident, the car seems to save the data and even a few photos from the AP cameras. If it's just a minor accident I don't think Tesla keeps all data.

 

[Saghost]

Elon has suggested that some degree of dash cam functionality will be showing up in a future firmware update, for AP2 and newer I think.

We've seen that Tesla keeps some data frames from major crashes; I don't have any idea what they keep on minor ones, and I know folks have had a hard time getting what they do have out of Tesla. (Which isn't necessarily a bad thing overall given just how much Tesla knows about all of our lives. I don't think I have anything to hide, but still...)

 

[David99]

Having 'nothing to hide' and making data available are completely separate things. By having the data available clever analyzing methods can reveal thing about you that we can't even think about. Especially by cross referencing data from other people it can get tricky. The data itself might be harmless, but what companies or people with bad or selfish intentions can do with it can be very bad for you. Privacy of data is really important.

 

[Saghost]

Having 'nothing to hide' and making data available are completely separate things. By having the data available clever analyzing methods can reveal thing about you that we can't even think about. Especially by cross referencing data from other people it can get tricky. The data itself might be harmless, but what companies or people with bad or selfish intentions can do with it can be very bad for you. Privacy of data is really important.

Exactly what I was apparently not very successfully saying.

 

[whitex]

Any witnesses? Without a witness and/or camera there is no way to prove who hit whom in such accidents. I am just going through the same thing where my wife got hit "PIT maneuver style", spun the car out at 60mph into a guard rail, while the other driver drove off with minor damage. Luckily I install dashcams in all my cars from the get-go - I treat them like airbags, always get them and hope to never use them (used them both cams and airbags this time ). The deductible savings alone just paid for for both the dashcams, but the fact that the accident record will not go to the underwriters as a reason to raise my insurance rate will continue to pay for itself for years.

 

[SeminoleFSU]

I'm sold. What dash cam do you guys recommend for a 2013 MS? My birthday is right around the corner?

 

[Saghost]

I'm sold. What dash cam do you guys recommend for a 2013 MS? My birthday is right around the corner?

The accepted gold standard in the forum is the BlackVue 650/650S.

I actually went a different direction in the interests of actually getting protection in the car without having to deal with the hassles and delays of finding a trustworthy installer or getting around to it myself - I bought a purpose built Chinese model through Amazon that replaces the bottom half of the rear view mirror housing and plugs in to the mirror dimmer circuit with the original connectors. The quality isn't as good as the BlackVue and it doesn't have a rear camera or offer parking coverage, but it's clean and easy to install and totally unobtrusive.

 

[SeminoleFSU]

The accepted gold standard in the forum is the BlackVue 650/650S.

I actually went a different direction in the interests of actually getting protection in the car without having to deal with the hassles and delays of finding a trustworthy installer or getting around to it myself - I bought a purpose built Chinese model through Amazon that replaces the bottom half of the rear view mirror housing and plugs in to the mirror dimmer circuit with the original connectors. The quality isn't as good as the BlackVue and it doesn't have a rear camera or offer parking coverage, but it's clean and easy to install and totally unobtrusive.

Thanks Sag! I'll probably go BV then since rear video and parked video are important to me, but just in case if you want to send me a link of what you bought I would love to check it out

 

[Saghost]

Thanks Sag! I'll probably go BV then since rear video and parked video are important to me, but just in case if you want to send me a link of what you bought I would love to check it out

Here's one of the versions of it:

https://www.amazon.com/Topfit-Custo...pID=41zyQZi6zjL&preST=_SX300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

 

[P85Dave]

I'm sold. What dash cam do you guys recommend for a 2013 MS? My birthday is right around the corner?

Also look at the new Thinkware F800/Pro. Both the front and back are 1080P.

F800 PRO | THINKWARE
F800 | THINKWARE

I'm the paranoid type so I have two 2-channel full 1080P dash cams so I am recording front, rear as well as left and right. If someone were to crash into my baby I'll have plenty of footage, possibly multiple angles, to absolutely bury them in liability

 

[SeminoleFSU]

Great info! Thanks all. The low light ability of that Thinkware is pretty impressive.

 

[mattack4000]

I have a F800 Pro, seems like a good camera, but pita to install on the X due to the wire size.

 

[whitex]

The accepted gold standard in the forum is the BlackVue 650/650S.

I actually went a different direction in the interests of actually getting protection in the car without having to deal with the hassles and delays of finding a trustworthy installer or getting around to it myself - I bought a purpose built Chinese model through Amazon that replaces the bottom half of the rear view mirror housing and plugs in to the mirror dimmer circuit with the original connectors. The quality isn't as good as the BlackVue and it doesn't have a rear camera or offer parking coverage, but it's clean and easy to install and totally unobtrusive.

Rear camera can be really useful. It was for us as the offending driver hit us from behind (left rear quarter). While you could try to deduce from sound when the car was hit and then show that car was in its own lane, it's much harder, and very likely beyond the training of the police officer investigating who just wants to close the case. Show them a clear as day, "here is the other guy, here they are leaving their lane, here they are hitting my car" and the case is closed as the other driver's fault.

Look at it youself. The front view is in the left top corner - it is much harder to prove the other person did it from the front view alone.

PS> The driver ended up leaving the scene of the accident before the police got there, they had no insurance, the car registration was expired and they no longer live where the car is registered. This is where the state police close the case as "no more leads". The video just lets them close it as not your fault for insurance purposes.

 

[Saghost]

Rear camera can be really useful. It was for us as the offending driver hit us from behind (left rear quarter). While you could try to deduce from sound when the car was hit and then show that car was in its own lane, it's much harder, and very likely beyond the training of the police officer investigating who just wants to close the case. Show them a clear as day, "here is the other guy, here they are leaving their lane, here they are hitting my car" and the case is closed as the other driver's fault.

Look at it youself. The front view is in the left top corner - it is much harder to prove the other person did it from the front view alone.

PS> The driver ended up leaving the scene of the accident before the police got there, they had no insurance, the car registration was expired and they no longer live where the car is registered. This is where the state police close the case as "no more leads". The video just lets them close it as not your fault for insurance purposes.

Did I say something that suggested I thought the rear view wasn't useful? I didn't intend to.

The BlackVue certainly has a number of useful features that lesser cameras don't to justify the higher price and installation hassles, and a rear view is one of them.

 

[whitex]

Did I say something that suggested I thought the rear view wasn't useful? I didn't intend to.

I was simply responding to your comment that you traded off the hassle of installation for a solution without a rear view. Just commenting on potential implications or drawbacks of such a trade-off.

 

[Ketchups]

PS> The driver ended up leaving the scene of the accident before the police got there, they had no insurance, the car registration was expired and they no longer live where the car is registered. This is where the state police close the case as "no more leads". The video just lets them close it as not your fault for insurance purposes.

Unable to determine that a**holes license plate from the video?

Also, one thing I learned from a hit and run, if you follow the perp all the way to their place of residence, it is no longer considered a 'hit and run' by the police as they will show up and facilitate the exchange of insurance info. The DA will not file charges and prosecute. I had 911 on the phone the whole time as this a**hole rear ended me and drove off.

So, I've learned to follow them long enough to ID the plate. Will be getting dashcams asap as well.


OP, IIRC jason can get the data from the onboard cameras.