Aftermarket demand for rearview cameras, sensors and mirrors is going to pick up once a new federal "backover warning" requirement goes into effect.
That will happen for model year 2013 cars, those manufactured starting after Sept. 2012, but only for 10 percent of those cars as the backover standard is phased in over four years. One hundred percent of the vehicles manufactured on or after Sept. 1, 2014 will be required to have backover prevention technology which meets performance standards set by the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration (NHTSA).
A law Congress passed in 2007 called the Cameron Gulbransen Kids Transportation Safety Act required NHTSA to publish a final rule by February 2011 laying out how car manufacturers can meet the standard, and that final rule is imminent. Although the standard will apply to new cars, parents with young children — they are the vulnerable population the law seeks to protect — will be heading down to their local auto aftermarket retailer to pick up a system that companies such as Delphi, Bosch and others will eventually make available. Linda Ferries, a spokeswoman for Delphi, says the company did at one time make an aftermarket rearview camera, but doesn't anymore. She adds that the new federal requirement will force Delphi to concentrate on the OEM market in the near term.
There was the possibility that the new federal requirement would spark aftermarket sales of sensors — which have been sold in the aftermarket for 15 years, mostly as parking aids — and mirrors, but that apparently will not happen. NHTSA's proposed rule said rear-mounted convex mirrors and sensors will not be able to meet the rearview standard NHTSA plans to establish. NHTSA could reverse itself in the final rule, but that is not considered likely.
In prohibiting mirrors and sensors, the NHTSA interpreted the Gulbransen law. That statute revises Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 111, Rearview Mirrors, to expand the required field of rear view to enable the driver of a motor vehicle to detect areas behind the motor vehicle in order to reduce death and injury resulting from backing incidents, particularly incidents involving small children and disabled persons.
In the proposed rule it published on Dec. 7, 2010, the NHTSA came down squarely on the side of rear-view cameras because current models can meet the proposed standard of 130-degree rear visibility. Mirrors and sensors can't meet that standard, apparently. The 130-degree visibility is based in part on the agency's tentative conclusion that drivers need to be able to see a visual image of a 32-inch tall cylinder with 12-inch diameter behind the vehicle over an area five feet to either side of the vehicle centerline by 20 feet in longitudinal range from the vehicle's rear bumper face. The NHTSA is also proposing to specify certain performance criteria for visual display performance, such as luminance and rearview image response time, as well as durability requirements.
NHTSA acknowledged that the standard it is considering will be costly to automakers and therefore to consumers. The additional cost to consumers for cars without GPS is between $159 and $203 per vehicle, and $58-$88 for models equipped with GPS. Based on the composition and size of the expected vehicle fleet, the total incremental cost, when compared to the 2010 fleet, to equip a 16.6 million new vehicle fleet with rearview video systems is estimated to be $1.9 billion to $2.7 billion annually. These costs are admittedly substantial. But NHTSA has "tentatively concluded" that its proposed rule is "reasonable and necessary, and that the benefits justify the costs."
Aftermarket demand for rearview cameras, sensors and mirrors is going to pick up once a new federal "backover warning" requirement goes into effect.
That will happen for model year 2013 cars, those manufactured starting after Sept. 2012, but only for 10 percent of those cars as the backover standard is phased in over four years. One hundred percent of the vehicles manufactured on or after Sept. 1, 2014 will be required to have backover prevention technology which meets performance standards set by the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration (NHTSA).
A law Congress passed in 2007 called the Cameron Gulbransen Kids Transportation Safety Act required NHTSA to publish a final rule by February 2011 laying out how car manufacturers can meet the standard, and that final rule is imminent. Although the standard will apply to new cars, parents with young children — they are the vulnerable population the law seeks to protect — will be heading down to their local auto aftermarket retailer to pick up a system that companies such as Delphi, Bosch and others will eventually make available. Linda Ferries, a spokeswoman for Delphi, says the company did at one time make an aftermarket rearview camera, but doesn't anymore. She adds that the new federal requirement will force Delphi to concentrate on the OEM market in the near term.
There was the possibility that the new federal requirement would spark aftermarket sales of sensors — which have been sold in the aftermarket for 15 years, mostly as parking aids — and mirrors, but that apparently will not happen. NHTSA's proposed rule said rear-mounted convex mirrors and sensors will not be able to meet the rearview standard NHTSA plans to establish. NHTSA could reverse itself in the final rule, but that is not considered likely.
In prohibiting mirrors and sensors, the NHTSA interpreted the Gulbransen law. That statute revises Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 111, Rearview Mirrors, to expand the required field of rear view to enable the driver of a motor vehicle to detect areas behind the motor vehicle in order to reduce death and injury resulting from backing incidents, particularly incidents involving small children and disabled persons.
In the proposed rule it published on Dec. 7, 2010, the NHTSA came down squarely on the side of rear-view cameras because current models can meet the proposed standard of 130-degree rear visibility. Mirrors and sensors can't meet that standard, apparently. The 130-degree visibility is based in part on the agency's tentative conclusion that drivers need to be able to see a visual image of a 32-inch tall cylinder with 12-inch diameter behind the vehicle over an area five feet to either side of the vehicle centerline by 20 feet in longitudinal range from the vehicle's rear bumper face. The NHTSA is also proposing to specify certain performance criteria for visual display performance, such as luminance and rearview image response time, as well as durability requirements.
NHTSA acknowledged that the standard it is considering will be costly to automakers and therefore to consumers. The additional cost to consumers for cars without GPS is between $159 and $203 per vehicle, and $58-$88 for models equipped with GPS. Based on the composition and size of the expected vehicle fleet, the total incremental cost, when compared to the 2010 fleet, to equip a 16.6 million new vehicle fleet with rearview video systems is estimated to be $1.9 billion to $2.7 billion annually. These costs are admittedly substantial. But NHTSA has "tentatively concluded" that its proposed rule is "reasonable and necessary, and that the benefits justify the costs."
