Black boxes may become mandatory in cars in US

Safety regulators in United States are looking to make the black boxes mandatory in all new vehicles, in a bid to assure the safety of passengers. The move could be taken in response to the recently surfaced problems in the vehicles of Toyota Motors Corp in US. The company has recently pledged to the government to provide more data readers for its black boxes.

David Strickland, the chief of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said in a congressional hearing that NHTSA would be searching for a possibility of making the Data and speed capturing devices mandatory in vehicles. Agency is conducting a full review about whether there are enough tools to oversee the car makers at the time when vehicles are becoming increasingly sophisticated.

Mr Strickland told to Energy and Commerce subcommittee of House of Representatives, When I was sworn in two months ago, I felt it was important to look at whether there was a need to improve NHTSA's effectiveness in this era of global marketplace and rapidly changing technologies.

Toyota Motors, which saw the biggest-ever safety recall just a month back, is also looking to install a new brake override technology in its vehicles to make sure that the engine of the vehicle reach into the ideal position as the driver presses the brake. Toyota is also weighing the need for performance standards for gas pedals. Toyota recently recalled its 8.5 million vehicles across the world after some acceleration related problems occurred in its vehicles.