Feds Delaying Backup Camera Rules

Safety advocates have been handed another setback as the federal government yet again postpones its long-awaited backup camera mandate.

In a letter to Congress, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood said it will likely be as late as January 2015 before the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) can finalize rules requiring automakers to install the devices – which many believe could help save hundreds of lives.

NHTSA has estimated that there are 202 back-over deaths in the U.S. each year – including 100 children under the age of five. Another 14,000 Americans are injured in such incidents.

Ironically, even as regulators struggle to come up with rules acceptable to both consumer advocates and auto manufacturers, the industry is rapidly increasing the adoption of backup camera technology, Honda already laying out plans to make the devices ubiquitous as it updates its current product line-up.

"This rule-making is important to the department due to its focus on enhancing the safety of our children," Transportation Chief LaHood stressed in a letter to Congress. However, he also noted that the technology is expensive, "and we just have to figure out ways to bring down the costs."

Due to the latest delay, it is likely the proposed mandate wouldn’t take effect until at least 2017, as a period of public comment would be required after the rules were announced and it would then take time for manufacturers to adopt the guidelines. It remains to be seen if NHTSA would phase in the backup camera rules, as the agency has often done for other safety technologies, such as airbags. If so, that could stretch the adoption time frame out through the end of the decade.

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