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 The unprotected transcript involves a 2004 Ford F-150 "no brakes" on freeway, leading to rollover case (death/paraplegia.)
In it Ford's corporate designee, Mr. Engle, admits that the Powertrain Control Module (PCM) has 409 seconds of memory. Every time you turn the key to the on position, no matter for how long after a post crash scenario, that memory is over written by a circular buffer. In this case, the plaintiff demanded to upload the RCM/PCM/ ABS ECU at a dealers shop. It took greater that 6 and half minutes to do. The Ford expert was smiling knowing the data had just been overwritten. Fortunately, there was a "software error" in Ford's hex conversion program which led to the deposition of Ford's designee, Mr. Engle.
In a non-airbag deployment catastrophic injury case where the driver remembers turning the key off immediately post crash or the battery gets disconnected in the crash, don't let the CHP or Ford people turn the ignition key on to see if there are any "fault codes" or idiot lights present on the dashboard, you might be destroying the evidence. (There are ways to get the data back, however.)
Ford says that they used a 32k chip only in MY 2004, maybe 2005, and that since then, they have changed to a 2k chip which only has 25 seconds of circular buffer memory. This change may not effect the erase condition, however. In how many cases has Ford or the police destroyed evidence? Did Ford know that this was happening each time the key was turned on? You Bet!
Ford made a presentation at the May, 2007 GVT and IND Conference in DC regarding their PCM philosophy: click here or go to: http://www.sae.org/events/gim/presentations/2007wheelock.pdf
LSSLC is making this unprotected transcript available to attorneys and experts who request it. Contact us at 610-642-7755 or email Linda Sherman at lss@lsshermanconsulting.com
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