Interpretation ID: aiam1392
Engineering Advisor
Busby(sic) Rivkin(sic) Sherman(sic) Levy and Rehm
816 Connecticut Avenue
N.W.
Washington
DC 20006;
Dear Mr. Nield: This is in reply to your letter of December 13, 1973, asking whethe glazing in the rear quarter windows of the Datsun model HLB-210 may, consistently with Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 205, be manufactured of AS 3 glazing material. This depends, as you point out, on whether this glazing is used 'at levels requisite for driving visibility' under American National Standards Institute Standard ANS Z26.1-1966, incorporated into Standard No. 205. You refer in your letter to section 1017(a) of the California Vehicle Code which states:; >>>Side windows to the rear of the driver and the rear windows not use for vision directly to the rear are not considered areas requisite for driving visibility.<<<; The locations where the use of AS 3 glazing is permitted are set fort on page 12 of ANS Z26. AS 3 glazing may be used, 'anywhere in a motor vehicle except in passenger car windshields and in the following locations at levels requisite for driving visibility....(2) *Passenger automobiles and taxicabs*. Glazing of *all* windows including rear window, *all* interior partitions, and *all* apertures created for window purpose. (emphasis added); The only exclusion from the broad prohibition against the use of AS glazing in passenger cars is 'at levels not requisite for driving visibility.' We do not agree with the California Code provision. We consider the word 'levels' in Standard 205 to mean vertical heights in relation to the driver's eyes. We, therefore, cannot concur in the application of the 'levels requisite for driving visibility' concept as it appears in Standard No. 205 to complete windows or other glazing areas of passenger cars.; With respect to the Datsun model in question, there is no evidence i your letter that the windows in question are not at a level requisite for driving visibility. In fact, they appear to include levels of a driver's normal eye point.; The NHTSA presently hopes to publish a revised notice of propose rulemaking regarding direct fields of view in the fall of 1974. Previous proposals regarding this subject were withdrawn by notice published March 7, 1973 (38 FR 6194).; Yours truly, Richard B. Dyson, Assistant Chief Counsel