"Telematics and event data recorders (EDR) should be on every insurer's radar," said research and consulting firm Celent in its 30-page report titled "Vehicle Data and Telematics: What Does the Future Hold for the Insurer." Coauthored by Catherine Stagg-Macey and Ashley Evans, senior analyst and analyst at Celent (respectively), the report explores the various ways in which primary benefactors -- commercial fleet insurers and personal motor insurance limited to niche products -- can avail themselves of the benefits the technology affords.

Within the context of the motor industry sector, EDRs are the most heavily adopted of available data recording devices -- composed of trip-logging, GPS and telematics -- largely because of the prevalence of airbags designed to record pre-crash data. In fact, Stagg-Macey and Evans said that, in the U.S. alone, more than 65 percent of post-2004 vehicles are equipped with an airbag control module with EDR capability.

Similar to the "black boxes" associated with the commercial airline industry, EDRs can document the seconds leading up to a crash, rather than log driver performance over an extended period of time. Though limited, this amount of information can be of vital importance in assessing claims, as adjusters can chart the speed, brake position, airbag deployment status, and the velocity changes of an insured car at the time of an accident.