Interpretation ID: aiam3815
Branch Manager
Mazda (North America)
Inc.
Suite 462
23777 Greenfield Road
Southfield
Michigan 48075;
Dear Mr. Nakaya: This responds to your letter of January 20, 1984, requesting a interpretation of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 102, *Transmission Shift Lever Sequence, Starter Interlock, and Transmission Braking Effect*. You asked whether Mazda may modify the display of shift lever positions for vehicles equipped with automatic transmissions to delete the gear lever indicator. As explained below, FMVSS No. 102 does not permit the deletion of the gear position indicator.; You should be aware that the National Highway Traffic Safet Administration (NHTSA) does not pass approval on the compliance of any vehicle or equipment with a safety standard before the actual events that underlie certification. Under the Vehicle Safety Act, it is the manufacturer's responsibility to determine whether its vehicles and equipment comply with all applicable safety standards and regulations, and to certify its products in accordance with that determination. Therefore, the following statements only represents the agency's opinion based on the information provided in your letter.; Your letter states that Mazda automobiles with automatic transmission currently display the gear lever sequence and identify the shift lever position of the automobile. Based on the information in your letter, the agency understands that you propose to modify the display in such a way that '[t]he actual gear selection would not be indicated (as is the case of current manual transmissions).' The pattern of the gear positions would be embossed either on the instrument panel or on the shift lever handle.; Paragraph S3.2. of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 102 stat that the '[i]dentification of shift lever *positions* of automatic transmissions...shall be permanently displayed in view of the driver.' [Emphasis added.] 49 CFR S571.102. NHTSA interprets 'position' to mean the position of the gears in relation to each other *and* the position that the driver has selected at the time of selection. Therefore, the display of a gear lever sequence and a gear position indicator is required for automobiles equipped with automatic transmissions.; You should note that FMVSS No. 101, *Controls and Displays,* als applies to the display of automatic gar positions. Paragraph S5 of the standard requires that, inter alia, each passenger car, multipurpose passenger vehicle, truck or bus less than 10,000 pounds GVWR with any display listed in S5.1 or in column 1 of Table 2 of the standard shall meet the requirements for the location, identification, and illumination of such display. Since 'gear position' is listed under S5.1, and 'Automatic Gear Position' is listed under Table 2, the requirements of FMVSS No. 101 apply to the display of shift lever positions in vehicles equipped with automatic transmissions.; Sincerely, Frank Berndt, Chief Counsel