Bruce Gazdick's "Practical Applications of CDR Technology" Class Taught at MSC

Bruce Gazdick's Power Distribution Center (PDC) tool

William Messerschmidt
Principal Technical Analyst
MSC

On June 18th, Messerschmidt Safety Consultants (MSC) hosted "Practical Applications of CDR Technology," at our Pelham, Alabama office. The course was taught by Mr. Bruce Gazdick of L & L Investigations and was attended by the staff of MSC, as well as local law enforcement officers from Hoover and Pelham, AL Police Departments.

It was a great privilege for us at MSC to have Bruce Gazdick teach this fantastic class at our Pelham, AL office. Bruce is a former Jacksonville, Florida Deputy Sheriff who handles products liability investigations nationwide with ESIS and EAA. Bruce also works as an instructor for the Institute of Police Technology and Management, where he teaches "Event Data Recorder Use in Traffic Accident Reconstruction," along with Mr. Richard Ruth and Mr. Bill Wright.

Bruce designed and developed the Power Distribution Center (PDC), which is a tool that facilitates accessing Event Recorder data in heavily damaged passenger vehicles. The eight-hour course, which included lecture, Q&A, and hands-on training focused on using the PDC and preserving diagnostic fault data in airbag modules.

We'd like to thank all of those who attended--and especially our instructor Bruce Gazdick--for an excellent day of training!

US Senate Passes Bill 1813 Mandating Event Data Recorders (EDRs) in Passenger Vehicles by 2015

Benjamin Smith
Principal Technical Analyst
MSC MS

Earlier this month, in the 2nd Session of the 112th congress, the United States Senate passed Bill 1813, which mandates the presence of event data recorders (EDRs) in all vehicles sold in the US by 2015. Additionally, the US House of Representatives is considering similar legislation.

Section 31406, titled “Vehicle Event Data Recorders,” indicates that Part 563 of Title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, will be revised with new regulations centered on the implementation, capabilities, ownership, and accessibility of EDRs in passenger vehicles available in the United States.

Furthermore, Part D (revisions) of Section 31406 requires that EDRs record data for a “reasonable” amount time before, during, and after an airbag deployment or rollover and that these data be accessible by means of “commercially available equipment” in a “specified data format.”

Read the document (pdf) regarding Senate Bill 1813 released by the Government Printing Office (GPO).