your vehicle, some assist you when driving, suchas
driver assistance systems, while others enable
convenience or infotainment functions.
The following provides you with general informa-
tion regarding data processing in the vehicle. Addi-
tional information regarding exactly which data in
your vehicle are collected, saved and transmitted
to third parties, and for what purpose, can be
found in the information directly related to the
functional characteristics in question in their
respective Operator's Manual. This information is
also available online and, depending on the vehicle
equipment, digitally.
Personal data
Every vehicle is identified by a unique vehicle iden-
tification number. Depending on the country, this
vehicle identification number can be used by,
forexample, governmental authorities to determine
the identity of the owner. There are other possibili-
ties for using data collected from the vehicle to
identify the owner or driver, suchas the license
plate number.
Therefore, data generated or processed by control
units may be attributable to a person or, under cer-
tain conditions, become attributable to a person.
Depending on which vehicle data are available, it
may be possible to make inferences about,
forexample, your driving behavior, 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 inves-
tigation of a criminal offense.
Governmental entities are themselves, in individual
cases and within the applicable legal framework,
authorized to read out data from the vehicle. In the
case of an accident, information that can help with
an investigation can, therefore, be taken from the
air bag 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:
R
Vehicle status information suchas the speed,
longitudinal acceleration, lateral acceleration,
number of wheel revolutions or the fastened
seat belts display
R
Ambient conditions, suchas temperature, rain
sensor or distance sensor
Generally, these are volatile data and will not be
stored beyond the period of operation but will only
be processed within the vehicle itself. Control
units, forexample vehicle keys, often contain data
memories. Their use permits the temporary or per-
manent documentation of technical information
about the vehicle's operating state, component
loads, maintenance requirements and technical
events or malfunctions.
Depending on the technical equipment, the follow-
ing data are stored:
R
Operating status of system components,
suchas fill levels, tire pressure or battery status
R
Malfunctions or malfunctions in important sys-
tem components, suchas lights or brakes
R
System reactions in special driving situations,
suchas air bag deployment or the intervention
of stability control systems
R
Information on events in which the vehicle is
damaged
In certain cases, it may be required to store data
that would have otherwise been temporary. This
may be the case if the vehicle has detected a mal-
function, 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 net-
work employees, suchas workshops and manufac-
turers or third parties, suchas breakdown services.
The same is true in the case of warranty claims
and quality assurance measures.
In general, the readout is performed via the legally
prescribed port for the diagnostics connection in
the vehicle. The operational data that are read out
document technical states of the vehicle or of indi-
vidual components and assist in the diagnosis of
malfunctions, compliance with warranty obliga-
tions and quality improvement. To that end, this
data – in particular information about component
loads, technical events, malfunctions and other
malfunctions – may be transmitted along with the
vehicle identification number to the manufacturer.
In addition, the manufacturer is subject to product
liability. For this reason, the manufacturer also
uses operational data from the vehicle, forexam-
ple, for recalls. These data can also be used to
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General notes