The PSNI has revealed that the black box recorder, fitted to the police car which crashed in Co Down killing four officers, was destroyed in the accident.
Four officers died when their Mitsubishi Shogun 4x4 crashed into a bridge near Warrenpoint last month.
The men were trapped inside the vehicle when it burst into flames after the impact.
It was fitted with a black box-type recorder and investigators hoped its contents might provide important details on exactly what happened.
The PSNI says the recorders are designed to survive crashes, but that on this occasion it was destroyed in the fire and it was not possible to retrieve data from it.
The German makers of the black box recorder examined it in Belfast but were unable to get anything from it.
There are over 260 Shogun 4x4s in the PSNI fleet. The force says it has every confidence in their suitability for the job but two have been sent for testing to a specialist centre in England.
