Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 108 (FMVSS 108) regulates all automotive lighting, signalling and reflective devices in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Like all other Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, FMVSS 108 is administered by the

United States Department of Transportation The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the president of the United States a ...

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA ) is an agency of the U.S. federal government, part of the Department of Transportation, focused on automobile safety regulations. NHTSA is charged with writing and enforcing Feder ...

Evolution

FMVSS 108 is codified in Title 49 of the

Code of Federal Regulations In the law of the United States, the ''Code of Federal Regulations'' (''CFR'') is the codification of the general and permanent regulatory law, regulations promulgated by the executive departments and agencies of the federal government of the ...

Part 571, Section 108. The most recent version was published by NHTSA for comment in December 2007, and since then, it has been amended in April 2011, August 2011, January 2012, December 2012, December 2015, February 2016, and February 2022. When it was initially published in 1968, Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 108 was part of 49 CFR 371.21, incorporating several SAE recommended practices by reference. The 1969 version of FMVSS 108 allowed the use of two headlamps, each in diameter, or four smaller headlamps.

2022 Amendment

In February 2022, FMVSS 108 was amended to allow automakers to install adaptive driver beam (ADB) headlamps on new vehicles. However, carmakers have not implemented ADB because of contradictions in the rule. , FMVSS 108 has not been updated to adapt to widespread use of LED headlamps, which are criticized for being too bright and blinding other drivers. Some manufacturers have reportedly engineered headlamps to have a dark spot where they are measured according to the regulation while being over-illuminated in the rest of the field.

Usage outside of United States

Canada

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

's analogous regulation is called ''Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 108'' (CMVSS 108), and is very similar to FMVSS 108. The primary difference is: * CMVSS 108 requires daytime running lamps on all vehicles made since 1 January 1990, while FMVSS 108 permits but does not require DRLs Both standards differ markedly from the UN (formerly "European") standards used in most other countries worldwide, not only in technical provisions, terminology, and requirements, but also in format: each European standard deals with only one type of lighting device, while the single U.S. and Canadian standards regulate all lighting and reflective devices.

New Zealand

Retroreflective material fitted to a heavy motor vehicle in New Zealand manufactured on or after 1st Jan 2006 must comply with either UNECE Regulation 104 or FMVSS 108.

Certification

It is the responsibility of a manufacturer of vehicles and/or vehicle lamps to certify that each motor vehicle and/or lamp is in full compliance with the minimum performance requirements of FMVSS 108. This is a self-certification process as opposed to the

type approval Type approval or certificate of conformity is granted to a product that meets a minimum set of regulatory, technical and safety requirements. Generally, type approval is required before a product is allowed to be sold in a particular country, so ...

process which is used in other lighting regulations such as UNECE Regulation 48. In order to show compliance to FMVSS 108, the lens of each original equipment and replacement headlamp, daytime running lamp (DRL) and certain conspicuity reflectors must be marked with the symbol "DOT". This symbol may also be applied to compliant signal lighting devices, but is not mandatory.

References

External links

FMVSS 108 full text

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(see regulations 128, 123, 119, 113, 112, 104, 99, 98, 91, 87, 82, 77, 76, 74, 72, 70, 69, 65, 57, 56, 50, 48, 45, 38, 37, 31, 23, 20, 19, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, and 1)
U.S. DOT Docket Viewer
(Enter docket # 8885 to view U.S. DOT headlamp glare regulation proposal and comments thereto)
FMVSS 108 2022 Amendment
Automotive safety Lighting Motorcycle regulation Automotive standards Standards of the United States Automotive lamps