Freightliner Corporation introduced new capabilities for its data logging unit, an on-board electronic recording device and management tool that is standard equipment on Freightliner's Century Class S/T heavy-duty trucks. New features will include the ability to record information from the moments before and after the truck's driver air bag is deployed. This enhanced function will help determine some of the conditions surrounding a crash.
Freightliner will increase the DLU's memory and eventually will offer the device in all of its vehicles. Freightliner made the announcements during a press conference at the American Trucking Associations annual management conference in Orlando, Florida.
"Freightliner's data logging unit already records a host of useful data related to truck operation - information that helps fleets better manage their vehicles and drivers," said Jim Hebe, Freightliner president and CEO. "Now the data logging unit will be able to record vehicle status at the time of an accident, providing critical information on the causes of a crash."
First unveiled in 1995 with the introduction of the Century Class truck, the DLU sits inside the B-pillar door, behind the driver's seat. It is wired to virtually all major vehicle components, including engine, transmission, and antilock brakes. The DLU continuously records information on speed, temperatures, pressures, odometer readings, and throttle positions.
When the DLU detects an anomaly in truck operations, such as high oil temperature, it automatically copies information from the temporary memory into a more permanent memory. The DLU also can be manually actuated. If the driver senses something is wrong with the vehicle, pressing a button on the dash instructs the DLU to save data.
Service technicians later can download this saved information using Freightliner's ServiceLink software. By analyzing the exact conditions on-board the truck at the time of the anomaly, technicians can pinpoint the problem more quickly.
Beginning in January 2000, all newly-manufactured DLUs will record vehicle status at the time of and leading up to an accident - as indicated by an air bag deployment. A driver airbag is standard equipment on the Century Class S/T Class 8 truck. It is optional on the Columbia and Argosy heavy-duty trucks. As soon as the air bag inflates, the enhanced DLU saves data on road speed, brake status, accelerator position, engine retarder status, cruise control status, cruise control set speed, ambient outdoor temperature, odometer mileage, and current date and time.
"Data gleaned from the data logging unit will help determine the general causes of truck accidents," Hebe explained. "By analyzing accidents and developing new technologies and policies to address causation factors, we can save lives."
The DLU's memory will be upgraded from 256K to 640K. This will allow the device to record 4.25 minutes of information before a vehicle event and one minute after. The current device can record one minute of data before and after a crash. In all, the DLU can store data on 50 or more separate events in permanent memory. Further versions will be configured to record data from on-board global positioning system (GPS) units and Freightliner's new Lane Guidance system, which warns the driver of an imminent lane departure.
By the end of 2000, Freightliner will offer the DLU on all Freightliner Corporation vehicles, including Freightliner and Sterling trucks and Thomas Built Buses, and American LaFrance vehicles.
