Re: Mandatory "Event Data Recorders" will even know you're speeding in reverse.
Don't forget that EDR's first started showing up to TO PROTECT THE AUTO MANUFACTURERS FROM LAWSUITS. Emphasis deliberate.
If Toyota had not been able to show that drivers were pressing the accelerator rather than the brake, where would they be now?
Audi already went through the "sudden acceleration" situation, which destroyed their reputation for no reason in the 1980's. Same underlying reason - pedal mis-application, and the people doing the mis-applying refuse to believe that they're doing it until shown the proof. That situation pre-dated EDR's but demonstrated in no uncertain way that the auto manufacturers needed to keep track of the last few seconds before a collision TO PROTECT THEMSELVES FROM LIABILITY in lawsuit-happy America.
"The airbag exploded for no reason and then I crashed" ... uuuuummmm, no, you were on the gas until the speed signal started going all whacko (because you left the road) and then there was a major impact where you hit that tree and THEN the airbag went off. Feeling a little sleepy, perhaps?
"The car rolled over and the airbag never went off!" ... yep, none of the G-sensors recorded an impact severe enough to warrant setting them off, so they did exactly what they were supposed to do.
"The car accelerated by itself!" ... uuuuummm, no, the accelerator was at 100% for 4 seconds prior to impact and the brakes were never applied, and we know the brake sensor is working because the brakes had been applied 10 seconds before that without issue and it's still working after the crash.
Stuff like that is the original purpose of EDR's and if Americans weren't so prone to blaming everything except themselves when something goes wrong, maybe we wouldn't be having this situation.