The technology being installed in vehicles to help drivers with a variety of basic tasks could come with its own window sticker: Big Brother on Board.


Many people don't realize, for instance, that the global positioning systems they rely on for help with navigation store information that could be used by a variety of interested parties, including police or insurance companies.

Among other things, these devices calculate speed and location, information that could prove critical in determining who is at fault in a car crash.

Garmin, a leading manufacturer of in-vehicle navigation devices, takes each request for this information on a "case-by-case basis," spokeswoman Jessica Myers said.

She declined to say how many times this data has been sought or if Garmin has a policy in place to protect customer information.

Rocky Mountain Tracking Inc., which supplies GPS systems to employees, parents and others, won't release customer information without a subpoena, owner Brad Borst said.

But the issue goes beyond GPS.

More than half of all new cars sold in the United States are equipped with event data recorders that investigators can use to determine such things as speed, braking and belt use in the seconds before and during crashes, according to the Insurance Institute For Highway Safety.

Privacy advocates have expressed concern that such technology could be used against drivers to establish liability or guilt.

Conversely, efforts to beat the rap are getting more and more sophisticated.

Manufacturers of radar detectors are using GPS to download maps and warn motorists when they approach intersections where red light cameras are installed, as well as school zones or other areas where speed might be restricted or monitored.

It's a far cry from when people used to coat their vehicles with "stealth spray" to try and make them invisible to radar, or mount "cop spot" mirrors on the dash for a 360-degree angle of the road.

"This is never going to stop," said Carl Fors, president of Speed Measurement Laboratories Inc., a Fort Worth, Texas-based company that specializes in radar technology. "People are always going to want to speed, and they're going to want to find some way to beat the cops."