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General notes
Personal data
Every vehicle is identified by a unique vehicle
identification number. Depending on the country,
this vehicle identification number can be used by,
forexample, governmental authorities to deter-
mine the identity of the owner. There are other
possibilities to use data collected from the vehicle
to identify the owner or driver, suchas the licence
plate number.
Therefore, data generated or processed by control
units may be attributable to a person or, under
certain conditions, become attributable to a per-
son. Depending on which vehicle data are availa-
ble, it may be possible to make inferences about,
forexample, your driving behaviour, your location,
your route or your use patterns.
Legal requirements regarding the disclosure of
data
If legally required to do so, manufacturers are, in
individual cases, legally obliged to provide govern-
mental entities, upon request and to the extent
required, data stored by the manufacturer.
Forexample, this may be the case during the
investigation of a criminal offence.
Governmental entities are themselves, in individ-
ual cases and within the applicable legal frame-
work, authorised to read out data from the vehi-
cle. In the case of an accident, information that
can help with an investigation can, therefore, be
taken from the airbag control unit, forexample.
Operational data in the vehicle
This is data regarding the operation of the vehicle,
which have been processed by control units.
This includes the following data, forexample:
vehicle status information suchas the speed,
R
longitudinal acceleration, lateral acceleration,
number of wheel revolutions or the fastened
seat belts display
ambient conditions, suchas temperature, rain
R
sensor or distance sensor
Generally, the use of these data is temporary;
they will not be stored beyond the period of oper-
ation and will only be processed within the vehicle
itself. Control units often contain data memories
for vehicle keys, forexample. Their use permits the
temporary or permanent documentation of techni-
cal information about the vehicle's operating
state, component loads, maintenance require-
ments and technical events or faults.
Depending on the vehicle equipment, the follow-
ing data are stored:
operating status of system components,
R
suchas fill levels, tyre pressure or battery sta-
tus
malfunctions or faults in important system
R
components, suchas lights or brakes
system reactions in special driving situations,
R
suchas airbag deployment or the intervention
of stability control systems
information on events leading to vehicle dam-
R
age
In certain cases, it may be required to store data
that would have otherwise been used only tempo-
rarily. This may be the case if the vehicle has
detected a malfunction, forexample.
If you use services, suchas repair services and
maintenance work, stored operational data as
well as the vehicle identification number can be
read out and used. They can be read out by
service network employees, suchas workshops
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