[msmiljanic]

Originally Posted by omasou

It's a data block that is continuously overwritten with everything NHTSA requires and whatever else BMW deems important to diagnosis a car. NHTSA requires the data in the event of a crash but there may be useful information in their to help BMW decode other issues like money shifts, etc. BTW, just guessing what is stored b/c no-one really knows.

https://www.crashdatagroup.com/edr-news/

I am wondering why we don't stick to what the manual says - EDR data is recorded by your vehicle only if a nontrivial crash situation occurs - I don't think the language can get more clear(only if a nontrivial crash situation occurs). It doesn't say continuous recording. It doesn't say recording when a fault occurs. But you seem to be making statements that are contradictory - why? Do you know something that demonstrates that the manual is wrong?

Manual Text
This vehicle is equipped with an event data re‐ corder EDR. The main purpose of an EDR is to record, in certain crash or near crash-like situa‐ tions, such as an air bag deployment or hitting a road obstacle, data that will assist in under‐ standing how a vehicle's systems performed. The EDR is designed to record data related to vehicle dynamics and safety systems for a short period of time, typically 30 seconds or less.
The EDR in this vehicle is designed to record such data as:
▷ How various systems in your vehicle were operating.
▷ Whether or not the driver and passenger safety belts were fastened.
▷ How far, if at all, the driver was depressing the accelerator and/or brake pedal.
▷ How fast the vehicle was traveling.
This data can help provide a better under‐ standing of the circumstances in which crashes and injuries occur.
EDR data is recorded by your vehicle only if a nontrivial crash situation occurs; no data is re‐ corded by the EDR under normal driving condi‐ tions and no personal data, for instance name, gender, age, and crash location, are recorded.