Interpretation ID: 19219.ztv

Ms. Jacqueline Glassman
Senior Staff Counsel
DaimlerChrysler Corporation
1401 H Street, NW CIMS 936-00-00
Suite 700
Washington, DC 20005-2110

Re: Interpretation of S7.8.1(b) of Standard No. 108;

Petition for Decision of Inconsequentiality

Dear Ms. Glassman:

I am responding to your letter of December 3, 1998, asking for an interpretation of S7.8.1(b) of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 108. This question arises in the context of an apparent noncompliance in certain Plymouth and Dodge Neon headlamps, duly reported to us, and which is the subject of an inconsequentiality petition that you have filed with us.

S7.8.1(b) requires motor vehicles manufactured on and after September 1, 1998, to be equipped with headlamps which have a mark or markings that are visible from the front of the headlamp, to identify the optical axis of the headlamp, to assure proper horizontal and vertical alignment for aiming purposes. The choice of the design of the mark or markings is left to the manufacturer. The mark or markings may be on the interior or exterior of the lens or indicated by a mark or central structure on the interior or exterior of the headlamp.

Apparently, your company decided that it failed to comply with S7.8.1(b), and filed a Part 573 report with a petition for a decision that the noncompliance was inconsequential to safety. Afterwards, "agency staff asked the company to consider whether a conspicuous horizontal line that fully crosses the headlamp and from which the optical axis easily may be approximated serves as the marking required by S7.8.1(b)." You have "used that line to approximate the optical axis and has confirmed through appropriate testing that aiming the lamps from that point falls within applicable parameters." You have asked "whether the simple measurement from the conspicuous horizontal line across the front of the headlamp constitutes a mark sufficient to comply with S7.8.1(b)."

The horizontal line across the face of the headlamp, which identifies the optical axis, is a "mark" within the meaning of S7.8.1. This has been confirmed by direct examination of a Neon headlamp by our senior lighting engineer, Rich Van Iderstine, the "agency staff" you referred to. Accordingly, the Neon headlamps are considered to meet the marking requirements of S7.8.1(b), and your inconsequentiality petition is moot.

Sincerely,
Frank Seales, Jr.
Chief Counsel
ref:108
d.1/21/99