"Your work products today include photos and the estimate, but now your work product can also include the black box data," Palmer said. "Those companies that see the opportunity to leverage their repair activities to an investigative service for the insurance industry, will be providing [insurers] with a value-added service that they're paying a high cost to accomplish otherwise. Because with this information, the insurance company can better understand the event, how it happened, who's at fault, and what injuries should be expected."

Privacy and other concerns

Obviously, the technical issues about the data and how to access it are relatively straight-forward. The implications of the collection and use of the data, however, are complex and far-reaching. Who owns the data that has been recorded? Who is authorized to obtain it? If a shop "harvests" the data for an insurer, can the shop be held liable for how that data is used?

Pat McGuire is an Illinois-based attorney in private practice who counts among his clients 75 collision repair shops in that state who retain him as a consultant on how various laws affect the collision repair and insurance industries. McGuire said before a shop harvests any such data for an insurer or anyone, a number of issues should be considered.

"First, who is asking for the information?" McGuire said. "In a first-party claim - when someone is making a claim against their own insurance company, the issue is going to be: Does the insurance company have the right to get that information from that car? Under almost every insurance policy, the insured has the obligation to cooperate with the insurance company in making relevant data available. If the insurer wants [black box data] in a first-party scenario, they can probably get it."

Third party claims

Third-party claims, however, are very different. "If it's not the person's own insurance company [asking for the data], you have to be very careful about disclosing any information to them," McGuire said. "I think it could really come back to haunt a shop if it was determined that they harvested or gave away information to someone who didn't necessarily have a right to it."

McGuire said anyone who harvests black box data better be prepared to defend their training and processes in court as the opposing side is likely to question how the data was gathered, stored or transmitted to prevent possible tampering.

Someone - either the shop or insurer - also needs to notify the vehicle owner about the harvesting, and the shop would want to have a signed release from the vehicle owner.

"I think at best you could alienate customers if this information is used in ways they don't know," McGuire said. "There's got to be disclosure and I think you would be foolish to not to have, at a minimum, a document signed by each and every customer [whose vehicle data will be collected] saying they understand what's being requested and they understand who is requesting the information and who it will be given to. And then you'd be well-served to put in some release language saying you can't be held responsible for any misuses."

Will be used to deny claims

Lastly, McGuire cautions that shops consider some of the possible longer-term ramifications of black box data.

"People cannot be naive," he said. "It will be used to deny or negotiate consumer's claims. Ultimately, I think the insurance industry has a goal of saying, 'If a Ford Mustang rear-ends a Ford Escort, this is the cost it should be to repair the vehicle.' I don't know if they can make that leap of logic, but I think that's what they see some of this information being used for."

Airbag data belongs to the owner

Palmer agreed with many of McGuire's assertions, saying it is clear that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and others believe the airbag module data belongs to the vehicle owner.

"Treat someone's black box data like a physician does a medical record; don't give it away without a release to do so," Palmer said. "If you treat it with that level of care and respect, I think you'll be in good shape."

But he also cautioned that the data and its harvesting shouldn't be viewed as a negative for consumers or repairers.

"Just as that information could be used to deny a claim, it also could be used equally as well to substantiate a claim," he said. "The data is just the data."

He agreed that in the future it will likely be used as "the basis for questioning a repair estimate," but said that just makes it all the more important for shops to get involved with the harvesting early on.

"For those who are most familiar with this information, who learn how to use it best, it will become a source to substantiate the basis for repair expense," Palmer said. "Because when you think about it, statistics don't tell us how much it should cost to repair a car. The energy in a collision tells us what should be damaged and what it should cost to repair a car. So this information can be valuable to those who are experienced with it to substantiate repair estimates."

McGuire agreed the data is neutral, but still foresees problems with how it will be used.

"I think everyone would be well-advised to stay on top of this topic to see where it goes," McGuire said. "Because there's no telling what the ramifications could be for your industry and for your own personal insurance claims, and how it's going to affect your customers long-term."

John Yoswick is a freelance writer based in Portland, Oregon, who has been writing about the automotive industry since 1988.