Interpretation ID: nht94-5.28

DATE: May 16, 1994

FROM: John Womack -- Acting Chief Counsel, NHTSA

TO: Norman Duncan -- President, Study-Tech, Inc.

TITLE: None

ATTACHMT: Attached to letter dated 3/10/94 from Norman Duncan to Rodney Slater (OCC-9882) and letter dated 10/22/93 from John Womack to Thomas G. Cehelnik

TEXT:

The Federal Highway Administration has forwarded your letter of March 10, 1994, for reply. You request "an interpretation of the existing vehicle code as it may apply to a safety warning system that our corporation has devised."

Our agency issues the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards that apply to new motor vehicles, pursuant to the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act ("the Act'). Our Standard No. 108 LAMPS, REFLECTIVE DEVICES, AND ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT is the regulation that governs the performance of lighting equipment that is required on new motor vehicles and determines whether optional lighting equipment is acceptable. As you have described it, the "Early-Warning Slow Down Safety Light" will automatically be activated when a vehicle decelerates. The system will operate through the stop lamps, but, alternatively, it could employ separate lamps mounted on the rear deck.

Your system is similar to others which have been suggested over the years, and we therefore do not feel that a demonstration is necessary as you have offered. With respect to operation of your system through the stop lamps, as you will see from our letter of October 22, 1993, to Dr. Cehelnik, a copy of which I have enclosed, automatic activation of the stop lamps is not permitted by Standard No. 108 which allows the stop lamps to operate only when the brake pedal is applied.

As for operation of your system through a separate lamp system, paragraph S5.1.3 of Standard No. 108 permits supplementary lighting equipment provided that it does not impair the effectiveness of lighting equipment required by the standard. Were your separate warning system to utilize red lenses, we believe that it could impair the effectiveness of the required stop lamps by sending at times a false signal; not every deceleration is followed by braking, and the operation of your system when not followed by brake application activating the stop lamps could be confusing to a following driver. On the other hands, if your system utilized amber lenses, we believe that impairment would be unlikely to exist because the public associates this color with the need for caution.

The Act itself governs acceptability of your system in the aftermarket (i. e. , installed on vehicles in use). Section 108 (a) (2) (A) prohibits manufacturers, dealers, distributors, and motor vehicle repair businesses from knowingly rendering inoperative, in whole or in part, any device or element of design installed in accordance with Standard No. 108 and all other safety standards. We interpret this where possible as equating inoperability with impairment. Thus, we would view installation of your

system by the persons named above as violative of the Act if it operated through the stop lamp system or if it were a separate lamp system with red lenses.

Even where a supplementary lighting system may be permitted under Federal laws and regulations, it remains subject to the laws of the individual states where the system will be operated. We are unable to advise you on State laws, and suggest that you write for an opinion to: American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, 4600 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, Va. 22203.