NHTSA to require rear-view cameras on all vehicles

[brooklynite]

Source: USA Today

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has just issued a regulation requiring all vehicles, including trucks and buses, to have rear-view visibility -- in effect, requiring rear-view cameras.

The rule applies to all vehicles under 10,000 pounds -- from the smallest subcompact to commercial vans.

The rule follows an outcry from consumer groups and families that have been touched by tragedies involving back-over accidents, especially those involving children in parking lots. They had been pushing hard against delays in implimenting tougher standards. NHTSA says it has been listening.

"We are committed to protecting the most vulnerable victims of back-over accidents—our children and seniors," said Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx in a statement. "As a father, I can only imagine how heart wrenching these types of accidents can be for families, but we hope that today's rule will serve as a significant step toward reducing these tragic accidents."

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2014/03/31/nhtsa-rear-view-cameras/7114531/

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Geez, my car doesn't even have a display screen.

[hlthe2b]

1. I have one, but still haven't gotten used to it...

I have real depth perception issues with it and find myself turning around still to look...Maybe it helps, but those who rely totally on it are likely to miss those obects/people that are just wide of its field.

[KT2000]

2. love those things

My sister has one and negotiating my driveway, which usually has a cat or two roaming, is so much easier. It is great in parking lots too where a toddler may be behind the car but not visible.

[PasadenaTrudy]

3. Seems like

issues with the C pillars on cars these days. Never had backing up problems with my 1960s Bugs

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

22. Those bugs were easy to back up ...

... way back when I was flexible enough to face backward while driving. In the 1960s.

It's still easy to face backwards. On good days.



My current car has a camera. I use the mirrors.

[PasadenaTrudy]

27. No headrests either

They had great visibility!

[bigworld]

4. Have there been any studies confirming that cars with them are safer?

I tend to think these back-over accidents are from people just not paying attention. I hope they're citing a study as opposed to just implementing this on a feel-good basis.

[abelenkpe]

12. from the article

In a 2010 report, the DOT's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that each year 228 people die in light-vehicle backup incidents, with about 44% of them kids under age 5. The second most vulnerable group: adults over age 70.

Congress passed a law in 2007 act ordering the Transportation Department to have a rule in place by 2011 to require cameras or other backup warning devices on all new cars and light trucks. Until Monday, there have been multiple delays.


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Theres more information here: http://www.kidsandcars.org/back-overs.html

The consumer reports link is especially informative.

While 228 die every year many more are seriously injured.

[Hip_Flask]

17. What is the difference in rates between vehicles that have it and those that don't....

If I had to hazard a guess, I would suspect that people put too much faith into the rear camera and that could potentially remove any benefits.

[LanternWaste]

32. Do you apply that same sentiment to rear-view mirrors?

"people put too much faith into the rear camera and that could potentially remove any benefits..."

Do you apply that same sentiment to rear-view mirrors? If not, what it the precise and relevant difference?

[Hip_Flask]

41. A mirror adds about $20 to the cost of a vehicle...

A rearview camera adds up to $2000...

I'm interested in the cost/benefit ratio... but maybe for you this one of those things that if one child's life is possibly saved then everyone in America should be willing to make that financial decision?

[goldent]

40. I don't have any idea what works best

but I agree the study should compare the accident rate with and without cameras. I'm hoping this is what was done.

[geretogo]

5. Most new cars have much smaller window area in back compared to older cars . A camera is needed .

[bigworld]

7. ...and, so many "cars" are now high-riding SUVs and vans.

[SunSeeker]

8. Exactly, and the windows are higher, especially in minivans and SUVs, compounding the problem. nt

[pangaia]

6. Now if we can just get universal health care

will save...what is it? 40,000 people's lives?

[Xithras]

9. Terrible technology that reinforces bad driving practices.

Only an absolute moron backs up using only their mirrors. Every driving instructor I've ever met, and the laws in many states, require drivers to look over their right shoulders when backing up. But since the vast majority of idiots on the road don't actually know how to drive worth a damn, they just glance in their mirrors, throw their cars in reverse, and kill people.

Car cameras are an improved mirrors, but they completely miss the point that people SHOULDN'T be using mirrors to back up anyway. They reinforce bad driving habits by encouraging drivers to look AWAY from the roadway when the car is moving.

Turn around, look over your right shoulder, and notice the 53' semi barreling down the road that you were about to back into...that you couldn't see because your lousy mirrors and poorly planned camera system have a narrow field of view. Notice the kid about to run into your line of travel, that you would have seen TOO LATE, because your peripheral vision doesn't help when you're facing a screen in the OPPOSITE DIRECTION.

Backup cameras should have a speed sensor built in. When the car starts moving the image should be replaced with a big block of words that says "TURN THE F*** AROUND AND WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING!"

[abelenkpe]

10. The instructions are very clear that drivers are to turn around while backing up

the camera is to aide drivers before they turn around.

[Xithras]

15. If that were the case...

...the screen would turn off when the car started moving.

[Hip_Flask]

18. Boom....

[LanternWaste]

33. And side- and rear view mirrors would smoke over with a synthetic glaze...

And side- and rear view mirrors would smoke over with a synthetic glaze...

[Xithras]

35. The difference of course being...

...that one idea requires three lines of computer code in the backup camera software, while the other requires years of engineering and hundreds of dollars of hardware per vehicle to pull off. One is trivial and practical to implement, and the other is not.

If you can't see behind your car without a camera, you shouldn't be backing up.

[hedgehog]

13. When I look over my right shoulder, I generally see the head rest.

As short person, I'll take all the help I can get to see what's behind me!

[geretogo]

14. Your forgetting the fact that the small window area in new cars in back and back side windows still

are not enough to see a child or other object . Older cars had much more window area
all around making seeing further to the ground easier to see objects backing up after turning your head .

[Xithras]

19. Then the NHTSA should require bigger windows. Or that the screen be placed at the vehicle rear.

This technology that only seems to make bad drivers drive even worse. It encourages drivers to watch their dashboards instead of their back windows.

I've nearly been hit THREE TIMES in parking lots by morons who were relying on backup cameras instead of turning their damned heads. If you're in an angled spot, and a pedestrian is walking across your path from the drivers side, the pedestrian is completely invisible because the camera is pointed in the wrong direction. A driver who turned around and looked would see them, but idiots with these cameras tend to rely on their screens.

The screens encourage people to look forward. That's a huge problem when the car is moving backward.

[geretogo]

21. Your might be right . This should be studied more and then make guidlines for car companies .

[Thor_MN]

29. The camera doesn't come on until the vehicle is actually in reverse.

So either the people are slamming the car in reverse and going without even looking at the screen, or someone has a habit of walking just behind cars with the engine running/have the reverse lights on.

The cameras have a wide field of vision, and have the advantage of being at the back of the vehicle. Half the time in parking lots, I wind up in a canyon of monster SUVs/Pickups with bed covers that make it impossible to see anything other than a very small field of view over one's shoulder. In addition, if you are looking over your right shoulder, you can't see much from the left side of the vehicle.

My car doesn't have a camera, but my cousin's does. I much prefer their vehicle when watching their kids. I still look over my shoulder when backing up, but I can see when I put the vehicle in reverse if there is anything back there.

The one disadvantage that I see is that it is too easy for the camera to get covered with snow and become useless.

[Xithras]

31. I don't walk behind cars with their reverse lights on.

Your first guess is probably accurate. I do know that, as a militant pedestrian and bicyclist, I tend to get aggressive with poor drivers who aren't paying attention. Many years ago I learned that the BEST response to a driver backing up toward you is to hit the back of their car as hard as you can with your fist (and I'm a big fit guy, so I get their attention...and can leave dents). Not only does this make them stop, but it usually gets them out of their car to see what they hit...at which point I can get in their face read them the riot act. In 30 years of walking and riding, I'd only done this a few times before these cameras started showing up. In the last couple of years it's happened three times, and each time it's been some dumbass who hopped out with a "Sorry, my camera couldn't see you!"

I don't care if your camera can't see me. The law says that YOU are required to see me in a parking lot. If the camera can't see me, DON'T USE IT. Your head swivels for a reason! These people need to open their eyes and LOOK instead of staring at a stupid screen with a limited field of view!

[Thor_MN]

36. That actually explains quite a bit..

Personally, I don't trust the person in the car to see me. I'd rather slow my roll than get run over. YMMV.

[One_Life_To_Give]

25. While I question it on smaller vehicles

While I question it on smaller vehicles does come in hand on the pickup. Looking out the back window of a crew cab has huge blind spots just as do the mirrors and camera. In a busy parking lot need all of them to be reasonably safe. Which make we wonder why this was cut off at 10,000lbs. Be handy backing up a dump truck. Not a replacement for good mirrors, but convenient to eliminate the huge blind-spot.

[Thor_MN]

30. Sometimes the blind spots are BECAUSE of the pickups...

Just saying...

[abelenkpe]

11. This is long overdue and will save hundreds of children every year

Its a double Good news day! This plus Japan stopping their whaling for research baloney.

[MicaelS]

16. It will show up in your rearview mirror.

If you don't have a main dash display. You can buy them now.

http://www.amazon.com/Peak-PKC0RG-Rearview-Mirror-3-5-Inch/dp/B004VJMEEQ

[Ford_Prefect]

20. How will this apply to older vehicles?

None of the 3 cars I use has a screen of any kind and none is younger than 1995.

With respect, one aspect of this seems like a good way to sell more excess tech on cars that are already more Xbox than than transport. Why not legislate a decent rear view in the original vehicle design? Why not require appropriate, competent and complete driver training prior to allowing anyone to receive a license?

A driver who is paying attention to the space around the car seems far more likely to avoid such dire consequences than one glued to the screen.


The cameras don't work well when covered with ice, snow or dirt. In the real world that is frequent condition. Our recent rental had one and was useless after leaving the airport due to weather.

[Throd]

46. You're good. Pintos have large rear glass.

[ripcord]

23. People who can't back safely shouldn't be driving

I have been backing for almost 40 years, much of it in commercial vehicles, a camera is no replacement for safe practices that include GOAL, get out and look.

[happyslug]

24. How does this deal with the four "Rules" on backing up vehicles.

1. If you can avoid backing up, do so.

2. If possible, have someone direct you from outside the Vehicle. Such a person should stand in front of the vehicle looking where the vehicle is backing into and directing the driver. Full hand signals should be used. Such a person should feel free to go from one end of the front of the vehicle to the other to make sure the vehicle is NOT hitting anything.

3. If you have a choice between backing up when leaving a site, OR backing up when parking at the site, back up when parking. People will stay away from a PARKING car, but they will stand next to a PARKED CAR. When you are PARKING, you are a MOVING car that people have been taught from little on to avoid. If you are in a PARKED Car, you are a stationary object people are used to standing still and thus ASSUME will stand still. Thus it is PARKED cars that people get to close to, as opposed to PARKING cars.

Furthermore the driver can view the area the Driver will be backing into BEFORE the Driver backs up. People in your vehicle are already in the vehicle, and thus can NOT get hit while you are backing up.

4. If you can PLAN so that you can park and pull forward, do so, even if that means you have to walk further. i.e. in a parking lot with head to head parking, go to the end of the parking line and pull into a spot where you can point your car into the lane between the lines of parked cars.

[Blue_Tires]

26. The little rear camera screen is integrated in your

rearview mirror these days...

[RobinA]

38. People Back Up

looking in their rear view mirror???

[SkatmanRoth]

28. Trial lawyers are going to love this

Some innocent child get maimed or killed by a car being driven in reverse, and the question becomes "who has the deepest pockets to sue?" Should we sue the car dealership for selling sub standard equipment? How about we sue the car manufacturer for going with the least expensive equipment. They could also sue the camera manufacturer for defective optics.

The court system is going to love hearing these cases also.

[happyslug]

42. But such law suits are the key to "Self Regulation".

In simple language, the position of those people who want to abolish Government Regulation is that such lawsuits will provide all the protection such regulations claim to provide, and do it at an over all lower cost to society. If you want to avoid a lawsuit, you will make sure the camera is the best that can be and covers and widest area. If you do not, you will lose in any lawsuit and be driver out of business and those companies that survive are those companies that can best balance between cost and providing the best equipment possible,

Thus lawsuits are what makes Self Regulation work and thus should be encouraged to fully replace government regulations.

That is the theme behind Self Regulation, that lawsuits ARE GOOD and are the most efficient way to regulate business.

[blkmusclmachine]

34. Not enough cameras in the world/Don't you feel "safer"???

[Jesus Malverde]

37. Trucking industry gets a pass??

Trucks have huge blind spots. They should not be exempt. They keep running over cyclists and killing helm in sf.

[RobinA]

39. I Would Imagine

most trucks already have them. I just got one for my older RV and I love it, but that's a different story from car. You can't turnaround and look in an RV or truck. Not sure I need one in my car very often.

[happyslug]

44. His comment is the 10,000 GVW limit, that exempts anything over 3/4 ton truck

The old HUMMER would be exempt from this law, for its GVW was over 10,000 pounds. One ton trucks would be over that limit, any medium duty dump trucks and most cargo vans. Tractor Trailers will be over the 10,000 pound GVW limit.

Now, your RV would also be over the limit. Thus you can have a camera on your RV, but it will NOT be required. That is the point the writer is trying to make, that such cameras will be required on anything bigger then a moped, but smaller then a one ton truck, when it is the one ton and larger trucks that have a biggest blind spots.

As to your statement that most trucks have them, I have NOT seen any on any large, over 10,000 pound trucks used for commercial purposes. Over the last 20 years such vehicles have slowly converted to automatic transmissions (and that was do to the fact the US Army stopped training people to drive standards in the 1980s after spending millions to develop a six speed auto transmission for the US Army, for the US Army was finding it hard to get recruits who knew how to drive a standard Transmission). Yes, the US Army developed the six speed automatic transmission for trucks, GM, Ford and the trucks makers said it was to expensive for them thus the Government had to pay for the development. Once developed it slowly entered the general civilian trucks usage, but it also shows that when it comes to truck development you can not look to the truck makers for anything that requires massive investment.

Sidenote: Commercial buses had used automatics since the 1950s, but these were very fuel inefficient and terrible traction on anything but paved roads (One of the reasons Streetcars lasted into the 1950s, was how bad these early automatic transmissions were, thus the trucking industry stayed with standard transmissions till the 1980s, it was the ability to abandon road maintenance that lead most streetcar companies to abandoned streetcars for buses along with 25 cents a gallon for oil in the late 1950s early 1960s, the lowest price ever for oil).

[happyslug]

43. The Trucking industry knows these camera will not do the job that is claimed for them.

The only effective way to prevent such accidents is to have a co-driver, who gets out of the truck and dangerous points and guide the driver from the front of the truck. The trucking industry do not want a second driver on the truck, they like keeping costs low and killing a cyclists or a pedestrian every so often is more cost effective then having a second driver in the truck.

You have to think about how to save business money, not about lives. (I am being sarcastic for those people who have to be told).

[energumen]

45. my car has incredible blind spots

I love my backup camera. My wife's car has one also and she thinks it's great.
That being said I don't baldrics they should be required by law