Please see our 'SDM airbag tech info' page for airbag 'black box' SDM / EDR locations by year and model. 

Depending on the year and model, there can be two types of recorded data. Deployment and 'non' deployment data. Deployment data is permanently written on the eeprom chip inside the airbag SDM module. 'Non' deployment information can often be recovered, and display the same last 5 seconds of pre crash vehicle data. Non deployment SDMs require special handling, please contact us for proper airbag SDM removal procedures in these cases. Pre crash data events apply to 1998 and later GM vehicles.

Please note: Non deployment data is not permanently stored in the air bag module and can easily be lost by untrained technicians. Non deployment crash data will also be lost after about 250 ignition key cycles.

GM electronic air bag SDMs do not look at vehicle speed to determine an air bag deployment command. The airbag SDM looks for a change in acceleration on the vehicle 'X' axis to determine deployment criteria.

• Why is the air bag module sometimes called the 'black box' ?

There are several possible origins of the term 'black box'. Some believe it is because early (flight data) recorders and WWII radar units were painted black. Yet another description is, "the term black box has been used to describe something that performs a function, but its inner workings are complex and mysterious." In media related stories, CNN uses the term 'black box' to descibe the airbag module crash data "due to a lack of a better term."

On airplanes, the technical term is flight data recorder. On GM and Saturn vehicles, the technical term is air bag SDM or air bag sensing and diagnostic module.

• Are General Motors vehicles the only cars that have a EDR / event data recorder / black box?

• What is Vetronix? Who is Bosch?

Vetronix was the original manufacturer of the CDR equipment used to access the crash data stored in air bag modules. In 2006, the Vetronix Aftermarket Division merged with Bosch (Germany) Automotive Aftermarket.

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