scope:

SUMMARY:

In response to a petition for rulemaking submitted by Ms. Barbara Sanford, NHTSA published a Request for Comments (RFC) in the Federal Register on January 22, 2003 that included several questions regarding convex mirrors on commercial trucks. The Sanford petition asked the agency to amend our Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) for rearview mirrors to require that all commercial trucks traveling on interstate highways have convex mirrors affixed to their front right and left fenders in order to provide drivers of these vehicles an increased field-of-view during lane change maneuvers, which the petitioner stated is necessary to eliminate a blind spot caused by the elevated position of commercial truck drivers relative to passenger cars. Prior to receiving the Sanford petition, the agency had decided to conduct research on heavy truck mirror systems, including fender-mounted mirrors. For reasons discussed in this document, the agency is withdrawing the RFC and is terminating this rulemaking, because additional research is necessary to assess the potential safety benefits of convex mirrors in this application.