Interpretation ID: nht90-2.35

TYPE: Interpretation-NHTSA

DATE: April 27, 1990

FROM: Kent D. Smith

TO: Stephen P. Wood -- Acting Chief Counsel, NHTSA

TITLE: None

ATTACHMT: Attached to letter dated 9-10-90 from P.J. Rice to K.D. Smith (A36; Std. 108); Also attached to Federal Register, 49 CFR Ch. V (10-1-89 Edition), pages 137, 138, 139, and 140 (text omitted)

TEXT:

I appreciated your response to my letter (locater number #4387). In my initial letter to you I described a device that could be used to inform following vehicles that their headlights were blinding you and that they needed to put them on low beam. This device consisted of a button that would activate the backup lights momentarily and would send the same message to the following driver as blinking the headlights up and down does to inform oncoming cars that they needed to dim their lights.

At the present time there are three methods that people use to inform following vehicles that their high beam in your rear view mirrors are making it difficult for you to drive. Some try taping their brakelights. This method is not effective because it is more universally accepted to mean that the following driver is tailgating. Another method which was pointed out in the cartoon that you sent me was that you slow down, let the offending driver pass and then put your lights on high and give him a tast e of his own medicine. This may make you feel better but it doesn't take care of the problem when it is happening. The most extreme method, but the one that gets the message across better than the other two, is what many truck drivers have done and in some cases people in private vehicles. In the case of truckers some have attached a spot light to their side mirror and when the following vehicle doesn't dim his lights he gives him a blast in the eyes with the spot light. The message is clear but it' s a dangerous way of putting the point across because of it's blinding effect on the driver of the following vehicle.

I realize that my device need not be a mandated part of newly manufactured cars but I believe that it has a place as an option for new cars as well as an after market item. There was some concern on your part that this device "might" impair the effectiv eness of the lighting equipment that Standard No. 108 allows. Over the past number of years there have been several new devices added to the rear lighting system that have been an enhancement and not an impairment. Three of them that I have in mind are the turn signal, the four way emergency lights, and the brake light that is placed in the rear view window. I suppose that at the beginning there was some question as to what they meant but it didn't take the public long to understand the message they were trying to convey. I believe that the public would be equally as fast understanding the message that the "rear high beam awareness light" was trying to convey.

A Federal Standard, SAE J593e 4.2, states that "Backup lamps shall not be lighted when the vehicle is in forward motion". I believe that the intent of this law is to force people to repair their backup light system when the lights are stuck in an on pos ition. With my safety device the backup

lights would go on and off in a matter of a second or two so it would seem to me that the spirit of this law would not be violated. I feel that this would be a safe way of eliminating an annoying problem (high beams in your rear view mirrors) that up to now has not been resolved.

What steps would have to be taken in regards to this SAE Standard that would permit me to test market this product? In your legal opinion would I be in violation of any Federal Law by manufacturing and selling this device?

I again thank you for your time and patience and look forward to hearing from you in the near future.

Please send your reply to: Kent D. Smith 12249 S. 1565 E. Draper Utah 84020

P.S. To save you the time of looking it up I'm enclosing my previous letter sent to your office Jan. 26, 1990. (Locater # 4387)