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“Backed into a tree” — what does the EDR actually say?
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Case question
Does an EDR report prove a rear-end collision simply because a vehicle experienced rear damage?
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What the evidence showed
A customer asked whether a report from a vehicle said to have backed into a tree indicated it had instead been rear-ended. The report documented a stored event and direction-of-force information; the technical response emphasized that the report itself did not state that another vehicle rear-ended it.
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Practical takeaway
Separate recorded direction and delta-V from narrative labels. The EDR describes vehicle motion; collision circumstances still require physical and contextual evidence.
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Reading the exhibit
The technical response requested confirmation that the supplied report belonged to the vehicle in question. Direction-of-force fields alone do not verify the reported tree collision or establish that another vehicle struck it.
The source evidence exhibit is provided below.
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Related resources
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Related cases
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Evidence exhibit
Selected columns from the Crash Data Records excerpt supplied with the customer inquiry. All four event rows and fields through PDOF are retained; event timestamps and odometer values are omitted. The excerpt does not establish the collision circumstances.
