Interpretation ID: aiam2575
Vice President
Government Relations
Motorcycle Industry Council
Inc.
1001 Connecticut Avenue
N.W.
Washington
D.C. 20036;
Dear Mr. Stahl: This is in reply to your letter of April 7, 1977, requestin interpretations with respect to Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 123, *Motorcycle Controls and Displays*.; You have asked whether a speedometer may be marked to register speed i kilometers per hour only. The answer is no. Table 3 of Standard No. 123 requires that motorcycle speedometers indicate speed in miles per hour. You have also asked whether a speedometer may be marked to register speed in both miles and kilometers per hour. The answer is yes. The requirement that speedometers be marked in miles per hour is a minimum requirement only and there is no legal objection to a manufacturer adding kilometer markings to the dial.; "Your next question is whether Standard No. 123 preempts a New Yor State law, passed in 1976, that requires speedometers of all motor vehicles manufactured after September 1, 1980, to measure speeds in both miles and kilometers per hour. The answer is yes, assuming that a j motorcycle is defined as a 'motor vehicle' under New York law. As you know 15 U.S.C. 1392(d) provides that no State shall have authority to establish with respect to a motor vehicle a safety standard applicable to the same aspect of performance of such vehicles as a Federal motor vehicle safety standard. Speedometers marking is clearly the same 'aspect of performance' in both the Federal and New York requirements, and it appears that New York would be preempted from requiring a motorcycle manufacturer to mark its speedometer in kilometers, though the manufacturer would not be prohibited by Standard No. 123 from voluntarily doing so."; Your final question is whether NHTSA contemplates changing Standard No 123 'mandating only or optional km/h speedometer markings.' The answer is yes. I enclose a copy of an NPRM published on December 13, 1976, proposing a new standard on *Speedometers and Odometers*. The proposal specifically allows use of kilometer markings on motorcycle speedometers in addition to the required markings in miles per hour. Note, however, that it would not apply to 'motor driven cycles whose speed attainable in one mile is 30 mph or less' (*e.g.*, mopeds) or police motorcycles.; Sincerely, Frank A. Berndt, Acting Chief Counsel