Interpretation ID: 86-6.18

TYPE: INTERPRETATION-NHTSA

DATE: 12/22/86

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; SIGNATURE UNAVAILABLE; NHTSA

TO: Edward Brosler

TITLE: FMVSS INTERPRETATION

TEXT:

Edward Brosler, Esq. Registered Patent Attorney 3100 Tice Creek Drive - #2 Walnut Creek, CA 94595

Dear Mr. Brosler

This is in reply to your letter of August 4, 1986, to the Department of Transportation. We are sorry that your letter of February 17, 1984, was not answered, but the Department is a large one and letters that are addressed to it, rather than to a specific agency or individual, sometimes do not reach the office appropriate for response.

We understand that your client has a patented device which activates the stop lamp when the accelerator is released and before the brake pedal is applied. It also "causes such lights to light up, in an emergency, even before the driver removes his foot from the gas pedal." You "seek approval of the U.S. Department of Transportation" for the device.

The Department, more specifically this agency, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, has no authority to "approve" or "disapprove" motor vehicles or items of motor vehicle equipment. Under the authority provided us, we establish the federal motor vehicle safety standards that apply to motor vehicles and certain items of motor vehicle equipment. A manufacturer is not required to submit products for "approval" before sale, but instead is required to certify compliance of its product with all applicable Federal motor vehicle Safety standards, after satisfying itself that the product complies, Federal Safety standards are generally expressed in performance terms, so that the manufacturer may have freedom to design its product to meet the requirements in the way it deems most suitable. We do not specify the use of proprietary devices, and to the extent that proprietary elements may be involved in complying with a standard manufacturers are expected to make available on a royalty free basis the technology involved.

Standard No. 108 Lamps, Reflective Devices, and Associated Equipment (49 C.F.R. 571.108) is the standard governing motor vehicle lighting requirements. A stop lamp is defined by the Standard J586c, August 1970 incorporated by reference in Standard No. 100, as a lamp that indicates "the intention of the operator of a vehicle to atop or diminish speed by braking." Incorporation of your client's device would send additional messages to a following driver: that the accelerator has been released but that there may be no intention to brake, or that the accelerator has not been released but will be because an emergency has arisen requiring eventual application of the brake pedal. That is to say, the message that the stop lamp is intended to convey should be altered by incorporation of your client's device. Because not all accelerator releases lead to braking, the stop lamp would send a misleading signal. We believe that the device is prohibited as an item of original equipment by paragraph S4.1.3 of Standard No. 108, because it would impair the effectiveness of the stop lamps, and that its installation as an aftermarket device would render the stop lamp system partially inoperative within the prohibition of 15 U.S.C. 1397(a)(2)(A)(Section 108(a)(2)(A) of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act). This prohibition forbids modifications affecting equipment installed in accordance with the safety standards when performed by manufacturers, dealers, distributors, or motor vehicle repair businesses but not by vehicle owners. However, even if it is permissible under Federal law for a vehicle owner to install the device, any State in which it is sold or used may regulate it. We note your statement that California permits but you should be aware that other States may not.

In arriving at the conclusion that the center highmounted stop lamp was the most effective way to reduce the incidence and severity of rear end collisions, the agency considered deceleration warning systems involving activation of the stop lamps upon release of the accelerator pedal, and did not find that they offered a discernible advantage over standard stop lamps.

Sincerely,

Erika Z. Jones Chief Counsel

August 4, 1936

U.S. Dept. of Transportation 400 Seventh Street Washington, D.C. 20590

Gentlemen:

I enclose a copy of my letter of February 17, 1984.

Please inform me when you expect to reach it for consideration, as I have not had a reply as yet.

Respectfully, EDWARD BROSLER

February 17, 1984

U. S. Dept. of Transportation Washington, D.C.

We have recently seen a writeup in which you recommend a brake light viewable through the rear window of a car, in expectation that a driver to the rear alerted sooner ad to an emergency and thereby reduce probability of a rear end collision and cut down on occupant deaths, injuries and vehicle damage.

If such a light, or even the conventional brake lights, could, in an emergency, be made to light up before application of the driver's foot to the brake pedal, how much greater assurance one would have to avoid serious rear end collisions and consequential deaths, injuries and car damage. Is this an impossibility? The answer is no.

A client of ours, an experienced race car driver and designer of his own power system improvements, has researched and developed a simple and effective system for not only lighting up the brake lights before the brake pedal is depressed, but causes such lights to light up, in an emergency, even before the driver removes his foot from the gas pedal. The U.S. Patent Office has issued to him, Patents No. 3639898 and 4219710, copies of which are enclosed and which completely disclose his system.

The system has been operated and its effectiveness demonstrated. As a result, the State of California has given its official approval, following which numerous other States have volunteered their official.

We now seek approval of the U.S. Dept. of Transportation, but only upon being convinced of the ability of the system to perform its intended function.

If the foregoing information is not sufficient for your purpose, we submit herewith a commercial embodiment which may be installed in most cars by an automobile mechanic in about half an hour and tested by a driver within minutes, to convince him, the brake lights light up before the brake pedal is depressed.

Please note also, that the improvement is supplemental to the conventional brake system and should it, for some unexpected reason to fail to perform, the conventional brake system will continue to function in its normal manner.

We look forward to hearing from you shortly.

Respectfully,

EDWARD BROSLER EB:pb Encls.