Interpretation ID: aiam4208
10 Martin Place
Little Falls
NJ 07424-1709;
Dear Mrs. Simcox: This is in reply to your letter of August 28, 1986, to Taylor Vinson o this Office regarding the acceptability of an aftermarket stop lamp intended for installation on motorcycles. The product is a stop lamp that, when the brake is applied, pulses before going into a steady- burning mode. The New Jersey Department of Motor Vehicles has informed you that stop lamps are required by Federal law to be steady-burning. A representative of this agency has told you that such a lamp would be acceptable as a supplementary stop lamp, but not as a replacement lamp. You are writing us for confirmation of the Federal requirement.; Your understanding is essentially correct. Federal Motor Vehicle Safet Standard No. 108 *Lamps, Reflective Devices, and Associated Equipment* requires most vehicle lamps, including stop lamps, to be steady- burning in use, though signal lamps such as turn signals and hazard warning signals must flash. Further, the replacement of an original equipment steady-burning stop lamp with one that flashes before becoming steady-burning would be considered a violation of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act if performed by a manufacturer, distributor, dealer, or motor vehicle repair business, though not if performed by the owner of the vehicle. As for the acceptability of the device as a supplementary stop lamp, Standard No. 108 really does not contemplate a supplementary stop lamp for motorcycles. Although requiring at least one stop lamp, the standard allows two provided that they 'are symmetrically disposed around the vertical centerline.' We interpret this as meaning that a second stop lamp must be identical in all respects to the first one, for surely a confusing situation would result if stop lamps on either side of the vertical centerline were unequal in size or in method of operation. However, the flashing/steady burning stop lamp mounted on the vertical centerline would be permissible as an addition to motorcycle stop lamp systems consisting of two lamps mounted on either side of the vertical centerline. Alternatively, if you wished to add two pulsing stoplamps mounted symmetrically around the vertical centerline in addition to the steady-burning original equipment stoplamp, that also would be permissible.; We appreciate your interest in motorcycle safety, and your taking th time to write us of your concerns.; Sincerely, Erika Z. Jones, Chief Counsel