In august 1988, producers of an "after-market-film" submitted a petition to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in Washington, D.C. for a change of the current regulation as regards light transmission. Application of after-market-film on all side and rear windows of passenger cars as suggested by the petitioners, would result in at least a 35% reduction in light transmission. This contravenes the current regulation in the United States which stipulates a light transmission of 70% on all passenger car windows. NHTSA accepted the petition for discussion without changing the regulation. At the same time, the Safety Administration called on various private and state agencies and organizations who had an interest in traffic safety research to gain their opinions about the petition. These people were sent a series of 85 questions and proposals deriving from the petition for comment. In a study of 78 responses (submitted to NHTSA before September 1989) conducted at the Autosicherheit Research Institute in Cologne, Germany, it was found that two-thirds of these responses are strictly against a change of the current transmission regulation. This report gives an analysis of the major pro and con comments submitted in the responses to the NHTSA inquiry.
Abstract