Interpretation ID: nht75-3.2

DATE: 09/17/75

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; F. Berndt; NHTSA

TO: Ideal Corporation

TITLE: FMVSS INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This is in reply to your letter of August 11, 1975. You ask for confirmation that "variable load flashers are permitted as replacement equipment by Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 108 for any vehicle contemplated by Paragraph S2 of the Standard, where such devices shall operate in accordance with the appropriate Tables of the Standard." You noted that some suppliers were under the impression that variable load flashers, which do not provide a failure indication, were not permitted as after-market replacements for fixed-load flashers.

The confusion apparently arose when the agency amended S4.5.6 of Standard No. 108 (June 6, 1974; 39 FR 20063) to permit variable-load flashers to be used (i.e., to except from the failure indicator requirement) on trucks capable of accommodating slide-in campers (as well as vehicles of 80 inches or more overall width and those equipped to tow trailers, as provided by S4.5.6 before the amendment). To specify its intent more definitely, the amendment added the words, "where a variable-load turn signal flasher is used," to the exception to the requirement for a failure indicator. Some persons evidently thought that the new, explicit reference to variable-load flashers meant that such flashers could not be used as replacement equipment where the vehicles originally had fixed-load flashers.

That was not the agency's intent. The language was only added to make it clear that where a fixed-load flasher is installed as original equipment, a failure indicator must be included. But a variable-load flasher may be used as replacement equipment for a fixed-load flasher on any of the vehicle classes specified in S2 as covered by the standard.

Incidentally, the statement in your letter that the June 1974 amendment "concerned itself only with original equipment applications" is incorrect. S2 of the standard states in pertinent part that it applies to "lamps, reflective devices, and associated equipment for replacement of like equipment on vehicles to which this standard applies." This means that equipment must comply with applicable requirements regardless of whether it is used as original or replacement equipment. For example, original and replacement variable load flashers must both meet the appropriate requirements of SAE Standard J590b, "Automotive Turn Signal Flashers," October 1965.

Sincerely,

ATTACH.

August 11, 1975

Frank A. Berndt, Esquire -- Acting Chief Counsel, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, United States Department of Transportation

Re: Confirmation of Earlier Interpretation Concerning S4.5.6, Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 108

Dear Mr. Berndt:

As a result of recent misinterpretations of S4.5.6 of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 108 by certain suppliers of turn signal flashers, Ideal Corporation requests a confirming interpretation of this regulatory provision reflecting the advice provided the company by NHTSA Chief Counsel in February 1971. A copy of the earlier letter from Chief Counsel, which was a response to a petition for rule making on the specific point at issue, is attached for your background information and reference.

As the Safety Administration is aware from submissions filed by Ideal Corporation in earlier actions involving Standard 108, the company is a manufacturer of turn signal flasher and vehicular hazard warning signal flasher units for both the original equipment and replacement markets, and is located in Brooklyn, New York.

In June of 1974, NHTSA, responding to a petition by Ford Motor Company, amended Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 108 to allow variable load turn signal flashers on trucks capable of accommodating slide-in campers. This action resulted in an amendment of paragraph S4.5.6 of the standard, and concerned itself only with original equipment applications. 39 Fed. Reg. 20063 (June 6, 1974).

In the preamble to the June 1974 amendment of Standard 108, the agency noted at one point that the standard ". . . has the effect of mandating use of fixed-load flashers, since special circuitry would be necessary to sense and indicate a failure in a variable-load system." (39 Fed. Reg. 20063.) Certain suppliers have interpreted, out of context, this quoted passage as meaning that variable load flashers can no longer be marketed in the automotive aftermarket as replacement equipment for vehicles originally equipped with fixed load flashers.

In February of 1971, the Office of Chief Counsel, NHTSA, communicated its view to our attorneys that Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 108 -- and more specifically paragraph S4.5.6 of that regulation -- ". . . [does not intend] that a variable load flasher used as replacement for a fixed load flasher must provide the outage indication required by S4.5.6 for vehicles originally equipped with a fixed load flasher." Further, your office cautioned that Ideal ". . . should, in the interest of safety, either market variable load flashers only as replacement for like items or call prospective purchasers' attention to the fact that the flashers do not provide an outage indication." Ideal Corporation emphasizes at this time that its turn signal flasher products are clearly labeled in accordance with the foregoing recommendations of NHTSA.

Accordingly, the company seeks a confirming interpretation along the lines quoted above, or otherwise that "variable load flashers are permitted as replacement equipment by Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 108 for any vehicle contemplated by Paragraph S2 of the Standard, where such devices shall operate in accordance with the appropriate Tables of the Standard." We would appreciate a written response to our request.

Sincerely,

Martin Rothfield -- General Manager, Flasher Division

Enclosure cc: Z. Taylor Vinson, Esquire (w/encl.)