FMCSA Proposes More Windshield Space for Safety Cameras and Sensors

In July 2021, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) proposed giving fleets more room on the windshield to mount safety cameras and sensors. The notice of proposed rulemaking, published July 6, 2021, responded to a rulemaking petition from Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA).

The rule at the time

Under 49 CFR 393.60(e), devices using "vehicle safety technology" could be mounted on the inside of a commercial vehicle's windshield only in two bands of the area swept by the wipers:

• not more than 100 mm (4 inches) below the upper edge of the swept area; or
• not more than 175 mm (7 inches) above the lower edge of the swept area.

In either case the device had to stay outside the driver's sight lines to the road and to highway signs and signals. Vehicle safety technology was defined to include fleet incident management systems, performance or behavior management systems, speed management systems, lane departure warning, forward collision warning or mitigation, active cruise control and transponders.

What FMCSA proposed

FMCSA proposed raising the upper band from 4 inches to 8.5 inches (216 mm) below the top of the swept area. The 7-inch lower band and the sight-line condition would stay the same.

The agency also proposed adding equipment to the definition of vehicle safety technology. DTNA's petition had asked for braking warning systems, braking assist systems, automatic emergency braking, driver camera systems, attention assist warning and traffic sign recognition to be included.

Codifying exemptions

FMCSA said the changes would largely make permanent what it had already been allowing case by case through temporary exemptions. Its first exemption from the windshield rule dated to March 2009, and it said it had more than 12 years of real-world experience with carriers using devices mounted this way. Examples cited in the notice included:

• a 2017 exemption for Hino Motors trucks with automated emergency braking and lane departure warning cameras mounted not more than 7 inches below the top of the windshield;
• a January 2018 five-year exemption for DTNA trucks with Attention Assist and Lane Departure Warning cameras mounted not more than 8.5 inches below the top of the wiper-swept area.

FMCSA said the proposal would not add new or stricter requirements and that the economic impact would be negligible.

Comment period

Comments on docket FMCSA-2021-0037 were due by August 5, 2021. The full text of the proposal is on govinfo.

Archive: this article describes rules and events as of July 2021. Regulations may have changed since, so check the current rule before relying on it.