Vehicle safetyUSA: Update of the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards for Lamps, Reflective Devices, and Associated Equipment

February 26, 20220

USA: Update of the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards for Lamps, Reflective Devices, and Associated Equipment

 

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Department of Transportation (DOT) has published an amendment to the NHTSA’s lighting standard FMVSS 108 to permit the certification of adaptive driving beam (ADB) headlamps.

ADB headlamps utilize technology that actively modifies a vehicle’s headlamp beams to provide more illumination while not glaring other vehicles. The adopted requirements are intended to amend the lighting standard to permit this technology and establish performance requirements for these systems to ensure that they operate safely.

ADB has the potential to reduce the risk of crashes by increasing visibility without increasing glare. The agency initiated this rulemaking in response to a petition for rulemaking from Toyota Motor North America, Inc.

Vehicle headlamps must satisfy two different safety needs: Visibility and glare prevention. The primary function of headlamps is to provide forward visibility for drivers. At the same time, there is a risk that intense headlamp illumination may be directed towards oncoming or preceding vehicles. Such illumination, referred to as glare, can reduce the ability of other drivers to see and can cause discomfort. Headlighting has therefore traditionally entailed a tradeoff between long-distance visibility and glare prevention. This is reflected in Standard No. 108’s requirement that headlighting systems have both upper and lower beams. The existing headlamp requirements regulate the beam pattern (photometry) of the upper and lower beams; they ensure sufficient visibility by specifying minimum amounts of light in certain areas on and around the road, and prevent glare by specifying maximum amounts of light in directions that correspond to where oncoming and preceding vehicles would be.

ADB systems are an advanced type of headlamp technology that optimizes beam patterns without driver action.

In drafting the amendments to FMVSS 108, NHTSA considered two major regulatory alternatives. One was the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) regulations that apply to ADB systems, including a vehicle-level test on public roads. However, in its opinion, the ECE road test is not appropriate for adoption as an FMVSS because it does not provide sufficiently objective performance criteria. NHTSA also considered a Society for Automotive Engineers (SAE) recommended practice, J3069 JUN2016, Surface Vehicle Recommended Practice; Adaptive Driving Beam, as well as the updated version of this practice (published in March 2021). The final rule follows SAE J3069 in many significant respects, but also differs from it in significant ways.

The effective date of this final rule is 22 February 2022. The incorporation by reference of certain publications listed in the rule was approved by the Director of the Federal Register as of 6 February 2012.

Petitions for reconsideration of this final rule must be received not later than 8 April 2022.

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