Transport i bezpieczeństwo · 15/11/1999

Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Transmission Shift Lever Sequence, Starter Interlock, and Transmission Braking Effect

This document withdraws the rulemaking in which NHTSA was considering whether to propose to amend its safety standard for transmission shift lever sequence. This rulemaking was in response to a petition received from BMW of North America, Inc. (BMW). BMW has been exploring the possibility of producing vehicles with electronically- controlled transmissions that do not use the conventional shift lever, but instead could employ shift mechanisms such as a rotary switch, keypad, touch screen, joystick, voice activation, or some other method. The joystick and other systems which employ lever-like designs, however, may not comply with requirements for the transmission shift lever sequence. NHTSA is willing to consider the possibility of modifying the present standardized shift lever sequence of Park, Reverse, Neutral, Drive, Low, or ``PRNDL,'' if the standardized approach were shown to be a needless impediment to new technology. However, BMW has informed the agency that its anticipated joystick design complies with the existing standardized shift lever sequence. Therefore, there is currently no demonstrated need for the agency to modify its standardized approach to allow the introduction