CDR FAQ:
Q: Is this the only Bosch preferred CDR Technician class?
A: Yes. This material is the only Bosch approved class for the CDR Technician.
Q: Do I need a CDR system to go to the Technician class?
A: No, although having one and bringing it to the class gives one the opportunity to use it in class actually doing downloads and, for those that recently bought a system, this can be very beneficial.
Q: Should I bring my CDR system to the Technician class?
A: Yes, but it is not required. The content of this class gives one the opportunity to use the system - and laptop computer - one would be using later in the field in class, in a controlled environment, actually doing downloads and, for those that recently bought a system, this can be very beneficial. It is not used during or necessary for the CDR Data Analyst class.
Q: What time will we be finished?
A: You should assume and plan for the class ending no earlier than 4:30-5:00PM on the last day of the class and make travel arrangements accordingly allowing for travel time to the airport, etc.
Q: Do you sell the CDR System at the class?
A: No. The Collision Safety Institute does not sell the CDR System. The Crash Data Group is the lone authorised distributor of the Bosch CDR system. See their web site at http://cdr-system.com/index.html
Q: Can you recommend a hotel near the class location?
A: No. Classes are offered at various locations around the world and, with few exceptions, no travel or hotel recommendations or suggestions are offered (specifically including hotel recommendations or suggestions). We avoid such recommendations to avoid being in conflict with police agency policy and so as not to counter individual travel loyalty programs. When specific recommendations are available, they will be indicated on the class listing on our web site.
Q: What is the registration refund and cancellation policy?
A: That policy is found HERE
Q: I took the CDR class a few years ago, why would I have to take it again?
A: This technology is not like, for example, taking a ped/bike class or an advanced accident investigation class where the content and subjects are basically the same whether you took the class in 1998 or 2008. Every year, the OEMs change their car systems, they get more complex, more capable, have different requirements, have different potential data elements and, at the same time, have different potentials for losing or destroying the data. If the cars stayed the same, if the CDR Program didn't change from one year to the next, you could take the CDR class once and that'd be "it." Ask yourself, what version of the software are you using and what's the current release? Are there differences there?
No one's going to tell you that you "must" take a course by the same name again BUT, if you took a class 2, 3, or 4 years ago in a technology that changes from year-to-year how comfortable are YOU going to be on the stand saying that you're basically "X" years behind the defense expert in terms of what you know about the system? The course may have the same name BUT the content is vastly different now than it was in 03 or 04 which is why, then, it was a 3 day class and now, with all the material to cover, it's 5 days.
Do you know what GMLan is? Do you know which GM cars you should leave the key OFF for when doing a DLC download? What's the GM power booster for? What's a ROS? Do you know how to use the PCM Adapter and which cars you'd use that for? What's different about the download from a 05 Mustang and an 05 Crown Vic or an 02 Crown Vic? What considerations are there when downloading a Chrysler vehicle? How do you read the PCM CSV file? Do you understand what the ETR report is and how are you going to the ETR report for an 07 GM vehicle? On an 07 GM vehicle, when it says "data invalid" for a given GM data element, where can you look to determine why it might say that or potentially recover data for that element? Which GM vehicles show 220ms of delta-V data after a deployment command is received? Which show 100ms of data after a deployment command is received? What's the timing of pre-crash data on a 05 GM vehicle and how does the concept of data synchronicity effect the timing? A vehicle speed reported as158mph may be an indication of what phenomenon?
The question is: are you ready to get on the stand and say you were trained in, say, '03 on a technology that changes from year-to-year and the last time you were exposed to any training on the subject was some 5 years ago? When the opposing attorney asks you: "So, you were trained in 03, and now you want this jury to believe that you understand systems or capabilities in cars, light trucks and SUVs that hadn't, in some cases, been designed then and weren't even incorporated in cars then?"
If you can't answer those questions comfortably, it should be clear that your training is out of date but how you handle that is your call. No one's holding a gun to your head to get a "new certificate" and this isn't about a piece of paper it's about knowledge and information. That paper's not answering the questions on the stand, you are.