So far, heavy-duty vehicles appear to be excluded, and either way, it's unclear how many years auto makers might have to work black boxes into their future models.

ENGADGET: Transportation Department to propose mandatory black boxes in passenger vehicles?

That record was eventually broken by Call of Duty: Black Ops, but Grand Theft Auto remains a hugely powerful franchise in the industry, with 22 million copies of the fourth game sold to date.

FORBES: Rockstar Announces Grand Theft Auto 5, Trailer Coming Soon

This is definitely going to be a hit on those people - black, white and otherwise - who have been depending upon the auto industry to give them that leg up in the middle class.

NPR: Roundtable: Chrysler's Deep Cuts, 'Rebranding' Africa

Mr. JOHN MCWHORTER (Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute): Well, you know, there was a grand period from the '20s into the 1960s when it was possible for a black man, or sometimes a woman, with no education to have a good solid job in an auto plant.

NPR: Roundtable: Chrysler's Deep Cuts, 'Rebranding' Africa