[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 53 (Monday, March 18, 1996)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 10979-10980]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-6425]



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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

49 CFR Part 571

[Docket No. 96-020; Notice 1]


Public Meeting--Vehicle Lamps and Reflective Devices

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, DOT.

ACTION: Notice of public meeting.

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SUMMARY: This document announces a public meeting at which the National 
Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) will seek information 
from interested persons on the safety performance of vehicle lamps and 
reflective devices. NHTSA also will consider suggestions for actions, 
both regulatory and non-regulatory, that the agency should take to 
enhance the safety of vehicle lighting systems. This document also 
invites written comments on the same subject.

DATES: Public meeting: The meeting will be held on April 17, 1996, from 
8:00 am until 12:00 pm. Those wishing to make an oral presentation at 
the meeting should contact Michael Pyne at the address, telephone 
number, or fax number listed below by close of business on April 4, 
1996.
    Written comments: Written comments are due by close of business on 
April 26, 1996.

ADDRESSES: Public meeting: The public meeting will be held at the 
Embassy Suites Hotel, 4550 La Jolla Village Drive, San Diego, CA 92122.
    Written comments: All written comments should be mailed to the 
Docket Section, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Room 
5109, 400 7th Street, SW, Washington, DC 20590. Please refer to the 
docket and notice number at the top of this notice when submitting 
written comments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Pyne, Office of Crash 
Avoidance Standards, NHTSA, 400 7th Street, SW, Washington, DC 20590. 
Telephone 202-366-4931; Fax 202-366-4329.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Regulatory Reform

    Calling for a new approach to the way Government interacts with the 
private sector, President Clinton asked the Executive Branch agencies 
to improve the regulatory process and seek non-regulatory means of 
working with the public and regulated industries. Specifically, the 
President requested that agencies: (1) Cut obsolete regulations; (2) 
reward results; (3) meet with persons affected by and interested in its 
regulations; and (4) use consensual rulemaking more frequently. This 
notice responds to the third item by scheduling a meeting with the 
public with regard to the safety performance of lamps and reflective 
devices for cars, light trucks, vans, sport utility vehicles, 
motorcycles, heavy trucks, buses, and trailers.

Issues to be Addressed

    Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 108, Lamps, Reflective 
Devices, and Associated Equipment, sets minimum requirements for the 
performance and location of original motor vehicle equipment and 
replacement lamps and reflective devices including headlamps, tail 
lamps, stop lamps, turn signals, and marker lamps on U.S. motor 
vehicles and trailers. The purpose of the standard is to assure that 
vehicle lighting and reflective systems provide adequate roadway 
illumination and enhance the conspicuity of motor vehicles. NHTSA is 
holding this meeting to help assess the need for improvements to the 
standard and to keep abreast of new lighting developments before 
proceeding with research, regulatory, or other activities for improving 
the safety performance of lighting and reflective systems. NHTSA hopes 
to obtain information from the public, including drivers, inventors, 
lighting manufacturers, motor vehicle and trailer manufacturers, 
vehicle and traffic safety organizations, consumer groups, and others. 
This information, coming from the grassroots level, will help NHTSA 
focus its regulatory and non-regulatory actions. The particular motor 
vehicle lighting issues on which NHTSA seeks comment include the 
following:

1. Lighting Harmonization

    Domestic vehicle manufacturers and other parties support the 
concept of harmonized vehicle lighting where a single lighting 
configuration can be built which meets the safety requirements of the 
U.S., Europe, Japan, and other locations. NHTSA supports this by 
seeking windows of harmony when it writes regulations as well as by 
participating in national and international efforts to identify and 
implement such windows. Currently, the U.S. lighting standard, FMVSS 
108, and standards of other nations have differences in requirements 
that cause multiple versions of lamps to be manufactured for vehicles 
produced for the world market. Economies of scale can result from 
achieving windows of harmony where one version of lamp can comply.

2. Geometric Visibility of Lamps

    NHTSA published an NPRM on October 26, 1995 (60 FR 54833), 
proposing to harmonize the geometric visibility of lamps in response to 
a petition. NHTSA took that opportunity to propose other harmonizing 
aspects that could be implemented. Since lamp location and visibility 
are important for safety, the agency would like comments on this 
subject. It is a major topic of discussion in the area of lighting 
harmonization.

3. Headlamp Beam Patterns

    NHTSA may consider whether to amend the performance requirements of 
headlamp beam patterns. There are a

[[Page 10980]]
number of factors at issue including the potential for better 
illumination, the need to reduce headlamp glare or the effect of 
headlamp glare on other drivers, and the desire for harmonization of 
U.S. headlamp requirements with those of other countries

4. Headlamp and Auxiliary Driving Lamp Glare

    NHTSA receives many telephone calls and letters inquiring why 
headlamps are so glaring and why they have to be so high off the 
ground. Many of these complaints are about headlamps mounted on heavy 
and light duty trucks. Light duty trucks are about fifty percent of the 
new vehicle market share. Drivers in passenger cars, thus, are being 
affected by more and more glare from higher mounted lamps. Some of the 
complaints turn out to be about auxiliary lamps, and why it is 
necessary for drivers to have four ``headlamps'' on all the time. 
Another aspect of headlamp glare may be mis-aimed headlamps. 
Consequently, NHTSA seeks comment on the problem of glare from those 
vehicle lamps that are intended to illuminate the roadway, e.g.: 
headlamps, fog lamps, driving lamps, and similar lamps.

5. Mandatory vs. Optional Signal Lighting

    NHTSA seeks comment on whether certain types of signal lighting not 
now regulated should be mandatory, e.g., stopped vehicle signals, 
deceleration warning signals, front stop lamps, etc., whether they 
should be accommodated by the standard (wherein their use by 
manufacturers would be optional but regulated), whether they should be 
ignored by the standard as at present, or whether they should be 
prohibited.

6. Vehicle-Based Lighting Standard

    NHTSA recently terminated action on developing a vehicle-based 
roadway illumination performance standard (60 FR 58038 published 
November 24, 1995). The goal of the development was to achieve a more 
performance-oriented, less design-restrictive regulatory solution for 
assuring safe roadway environment illumination. Because the outcome of 
this action had the potential to be so different from any known means 
of specifying head lighting performance, commenters to the proposal 
were skeptical that any solution would be usable and that even if it 
were, the perceived regulatory burdens of it would not be commensurate 
with the uncertain potential benefits to public safety. Yet many 
commenters saw that such a standard could offer significant freedom for 
vehicle design. As a result, NHTSA attempted to further develop a tool 
to address the commenters concerns, but was unable to do so. 
Consequently, NHTSA terminated the project. NHTSA desires comment on 
whether there is any public interest in such a vehicle-based system, 
and/or whether there is the potential in the future that such a system 
might be a desirable alternative to current hardware-based performance 
requirements.

7. New Lighting Technology

    Two years ago, NHTSA published a notice asking for comment on how 
the lighting standard might adversely affect the introduction of new 
technologies, e.g., neon and long arc light sources, high intensity 
discharge and short arc light sources, light emitting diode light 
sources, and centrally located, distributive light sources, into 
vehicle lighting (59 FR 16788 published April 8, 1994). It was met with 
interest, but comments generally were without substance as to how the 
standard might need to be amended to accommodate the new technologies. 
One rulemaking action was begun to make high intensity discharge light 
sources acceptable as replaceable headlamp bulbs; this is about to be 
completed. NHTSA is interested in any updated comments on this topic, 
as well as any thoughts on the acceptance or desire of these and any 
other new technologies by the public.
    Other topics may include daytime running lights and the issue of 
updating references to SAE standards in FMVSS 108. In addition, NHTSA 
welcomes views and comments from groups that have special lighting-
related needs such as the elderly, and on issues including 
international considerations, driver education, and other aspects of 
vehicle lighting safety. NHTSA also will entertain suggestions for 
activities, either regulatory or non-regulatory, and research that the 
agency should undertake. Suggestions for agency action should be 
accompanied by rationale for the action and the expected benefits and 
other consequences. Recommendations should include, where available, 
information on safety effects, consumer costs, regulated party costs, 
overall cost-effectiveness, small business effects, availability of 
voluntary industry standards, effects on international harmonization, 
and whether the action reflects a ``common sense'' approach to solving 
the problem.

Procedural Matters

    The public meeting will begin at 8:00 am on April 17, 1996, and is 
scheduled to conclude at 12:00 pm. It will take place in the morning at 
the same location as the SAE Lighting Committee's semi-annual 
conference, which is scheduled to resume in the afternoon. The location 
will be the Embassy Suites Hotel, 4550 La Jolla Village Drive, San 
Diego, California , 92122. Persons wishing to speak at the public 
meeting should contact Michael Pyne by the indicated date, and must 
include requests for audio-visual aids. Those speaking at the public 
meeting should limit their presentations to 15 minutes. However, 
because this meeting will be limited to a single morning session, the 
speaking time may be revised to 10 minutes per speaker if all speakers 
cannot be accommodated with a 15 minute speaking time. If a 
presentation will include slides, motion pictures, or other visual 
aids, the presenters should bring at least one copy to the meeting for 
submission to NHTSA, so that NHTSA can readily include the material in 
the public record.
    At the meeting, NHTSA staff may ask questions of any speaker, and 
any participant may submit written questions for the NHTSA staff. NHTSA 
may, at its discretion, address the latter to other meeting 
participants. There will be no opportunity for participants directly to 
question each other. If time permits, persons who have not requested 
time, but would like to make a statement, will be afforded an 
opportunity to do so.
    A schedule of participants making oral presentations will be 
available at the designated meeting room. A copy of any written 
statements provided to NHTSA at the meeting will be placed in the 
docket relating to this notice. A verbatim transcript of the meeting 
will be prepared and placed in the NHTSA docket as soon as possible 
after the meeting.
    Participation in the meeting is not a prerequisite for the 
submission of written comments. NHTSA invites written comments from all 
interested parties. It is requested but not required that 10 copies be 
submitted.
    NHTSA will continue to file relevant information in the docket as 
it becomes available after the closing date. It is therefore 
recommended that interested persons continue to examine the docket for 
new material.

    Issued: March 12, 1996.
Barry Felrice,
Associate Administrator for Safety Performance Standards.
[FR Doc. 96-6425 Filed 3-15-96; 8:45 am]
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