Car and Vehicle Crash Reconstruction
One of the most difficult tasks involved in crash scene reconstruction lies in extracting data from the vehicle’s event data recorder or EDR module, the rough equivalent of an airplane’s “black box” (although, unfortunately, nowhere near as durable). It’s sadly not uncommon in traffic accidents, especially those involving heavy vehicles, for the EDR modules to become damaged in such a way that accessing them to gain insight into the vehicles’ final moments prior to the crash becomes difficult.
In claims investigation, data taken from an EDR module can be crucial for resolving claims, and in an ideal world, you would always be able to rely on that data for your investigations. Unfortunately, we don’t live in an ideal world. But fortunately, we’re here to make the world a little more ideal.
If you’re stuck in a rut and struggling to recover the logs from a vehicle’s EDR, Gillware’s expert data recovery technicians can help you get your investigation back on the road.
How Can Gillware Assist You With Your Vehicle Crash Reconstruction?
We’re not interested in performing any aspect of your crash scene investigation for you. We just want to help you do your job by making sure the data you need is available.
Gillware, Inc. has been recovering data from all kinds of data storage devices for over fifteen years, from hard disk drives to the tiniest microSD cards. Our forensic data recovery experts have salvaged data from mobile phones burned beyond recognition and have even assisted the US military in recovering data from the black box of a crashed Apache helicopter.
In our headquarters and world-class data recovery lab in Madison, Wisconsin, our technicians have pushed the boundaries of possibility in the world of data recovery. If accessing the data on a damaged EDR module is proving difficult for you, we can take care of that for you and help you get on with your investigation. We can help you with damaged airbag modules from all major manufacturers, including Takata and Autoliv.
Fill out this simple form to request a consultation or ask for more information:
Or contact Peter Holewinski at [608-320-6756] to learn more:
EDR Module Recovery for Crash Reconstruction
You can’t access the data on a vehicle’s airbag module if you can’t connect it to your CDR kit. Unfortunately, the connection point on an airbag module can be the most easily damaged part of the device. Gillware can assist with the following situations involving damaged EDRs, CDRs, black boxes, and airbag modules:
- Fire damaged EDR modules
- EDR modules with burned or melted connections
- Airbag modules damaged by exposure to salt water
- EDR modules inaccessible due to power failure
- Any other circumstance in which a physical issue prevents you from transferring data from an event data recorder/airbag module/black box for further analysis.
Our EDR Module Data Retrieval Process
Making the data from a damaged car event data recorder module salvageable might be unfeasible for you, but it’s a simple matter for us.
Step One: Ship the EDR module to Gillware’s lab
Contact us for a free consultation via form or the phone number listed above. We will arrange free shipping to our headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin.
Step Two: Receive a firm price quote
Our engineers will perform an in-lab evaluation to determine the cost of labor and materials for your situation and will give you a firm, down-to-the-dollar price quote for our services.
Step Three: EDR module repair in Gillware’s lab
EDR modules are designed with a simple eight-pin ROM chip that holds all of the relevant data, and in most situations, only the connector is broken. Upon payment, our engineers open up your damaged EDR module and transplant its ROM chip into a surrogate module.
Step Four: Return the healthy EDR module to you
With the transplant work completed, we send you the surrogate EDR module with the ROM chip from the damaged module containing all of its unique data. You can now continue your investigation unimpeded!
With Gillware’s help, never again will you have to give up a burned or melted airbag module as a “lost cause.”
How Difficult is Damaged EDR Recovery?
EDR and CDR modules are often colloquially likened to “black boxes” for cars and heavy vehicles. However, even these black boxes still have weak points. The easiest part of the module to break is the connector, which you need in working order when you plug the module into your Bosch CDR kit to transfer the data and generate a report from the data. This is something our engineers are used to seeing: in our data recovery lab, we often recover data from USB flash drives that have become inaccessible due to excess strain placed on their USB plugs, their weakest component.
The connector of any heavy vehicle or car event data recorder can be damaged by intense heat, melted by fire, or corroded by salt water. Other physical issues that can cut off your access to unexpendable data include an electrical short or corrosion within the module.
Rendering the data on a damaged EDR module accessible again involves opening up the damaged module and transplanting the ROM chip containing the recorded data into a healthy EDR of the same make and model. This is similar to the work our forensic data recovery specialists frequently perform on smartphones and other mobile devices when they are damaged beyond repair. In instances of serious vehicle damage it’s possible that your data storage device is not detected. When a hard drive is not recognized Gillware is likely capable of restoring your data.
With the relevant data safely housed in a functional EDR module, we send the module back to you so you can get on with your investigation in peace.