tidy-newt-4885/11/2026

Car crash investigation revealed missing data from the vehicle's onboard system — is this normal??

I've been following my brother's case pretty closely since his accident about two years ago. He was driving on the highway when his car suddenly accelerated on its own — at least that's what he says and honestly I believe him. He's not a reckless person at all.

The initial investigation went nowhere. Police basically closed it out, no charges, no real explanation. My brother had some pretty serious injuries from the impact and spent weeks recovering.

Here's where it gets weird. His attorney finally pushed to have the vehicle independently examined — it had been sitting in an impound lot for almost two years. When the examiner got into the onboard systems, they found that a data storage module was physically missing from the car. Gone. And there's apparently a gap in the recorded data right around the time of the crash — we're talking roughly the last several seconds before impact just... not there.

The manufacturer is saying nothing. The original investigating agency is saying nothing. His lawyer is now treating this like a whole different case.

Has anyone dealt with anything like this? Missing vehicle data, tampered hardware, anything that felt like the evidence was being buried? I feel like my brother has been fighting an uphill battle this entire time and now we don't even know who to be angry at — the manufacturer, the investigators, or both.

Any insight would be huge. We're not even sure what his next steps should be at this point.

8 replies

Most helpful first

steady-lynx-6725/11/2026
Not legal advice, but this is a significant development. Chain of custody for physical evidence matters enormously — if that module went missing while the vehicle was in official custody, there may be serious legal implications for the case. His attorney should be documenting everything and potentially filing a spoliation argument. That basically means the missing evidence can sometimes be held against the party responsible for preserving it. Make sure his lawyer has experience with product liability, not just general personal injury.
- plain-crow-7965/11/2026
  I used to work claims for a large carrier and I'll tell you — manufacturers and their insurers have entire legal teams whose job is to manage exactly this kind of situation. Missing data, hardware gaps, vague explanations. I've seen it. The moment an independent examiner gets involved is usually when things get very quiet on the other side. That silence isn't coincidence. Your brother's attorney needs to push hard and fast before anything else conveniently disappears.
mellow-wren-9775/11/2026
My situation wasn't as dramatic but after my accident the other party's insurer kept stalling on getting the event data recorder pulled from the car. By the time we got access, some of it had apparently been overwritten by the car just from sitting idle and running diagnostics. I had no idea cars could do that. Lesson I learned the hard way: get an independent hold placed on the vehicle as fast as humanly possible. Two years is a long time for evidence to sit unprotected.
- bright-marmot-2435/11/2026
  Two years in impound with nobody watching what happens to the physical evidence? That's a nightmare scenario. I'd be asking very loudly who had access to that vehicle during that time and whether there's a sign-in log. Impound facilities aren't exactly Fort Knox and when there's a big manufacturer potentially on the hook, weird things can happen. Don't let anyone dismiss this as routine.
bold-wren-0675/11/2026
The legal term to look up is 'spoliation of evidence' — it refers to the destruction, alteration, or failure to preserve evidence relevant to litigation. Courts take it seriously. If your brother filed or even just threatened legal action before the vehicle went into custody, there may already have been a legal duty to preserve everything in that car exactly as-is. A good product liability attorney will know how to use this. Also worth asking: was there any dashcam footage, traffic cameras, or witness phones that captured the crash itself? Build the record from every angle.
candid-crane-4905/11/2026
I just want to check in on your brother's recovery side of things too — two years is a long time to be carrying both physical injuries and the stress of an unresolved case. That combination is genuinely hard on the body and the mind. I hope he's got some support around him, not just legal help. The psychological toll of feeling like no one is taking you seriously after a serious accident is real and it compounds everything.
humble-marten-1235/11/2026
I don't doubt something sketchy is going on, but I want to ask — was the independent examiner certified to assess this specific vehicle's systems? Some of these newer vehicles have proprietary architectures that require manufacturer-specific tools to fully analyze, and an examiner without the right credentials might misidentify something as 'missing' when it's actually just a component they didn't recognize. I'm not saying your brother is wrong — I'm saying you want to be absolutely certain the findings are bulletproof before going public with them.
spry-sparrow-2935/11/2026
Here's the bottom line: if the evidence was compromised while in official custody, somebody is going to have to answer for that. Get everything your brother's attorney has documented, in writing, today. Then push for a forensic expert with specific experience in automotive data systems — not just a general mechanic. And seriously consider reaching out to automotive safety advocacy groups, because if this is a systemic issue with a manufacturer, your brother's case might not be standing alone.