WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/TBT/N/USA/43
19 June 2003
(03-3287)
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:  English
NOTIFICATION
The following notification is being circulated in accordance with Article 10.6.
1. Member to Agreement notifying:   UNITED STATES
If applicable, name of local government involved (Articles 3.2 and 7.2):           
2. Agency responsible:   National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (45)
Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers, e-mail and web-site
addresses, if available) of  agency or authority designated to handle comments
regarding the notification shall be indicated if different from above:           
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [ X], 2.10.1 [    ], 5.6.2 [    ], 5.7.1 [    ], other:           
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwis e national tariff heading.
ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable):   Starter Interlock
(HS Chapter 8703) (ICS 43) 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:   Federal Motor
Vehicle Safety Standards;  Transmission Shift Lever Sequence, Starter Interlock, and
Transmission Braking Effect  (11 pages, in English)          
6. Description of content:   This document proposes to amend the starter interlock
requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 102 to permit a vehicle’s
engine to stop and restart automatically after the driver has initially started the vehicle.  Theamendment would facilitate the development of propulsion systems, such as hybrid/electric
systems, that conserve energy and reduce emissions by stopping the engine (internal
combustion engine) when it is not needed.  To prevent inadvertent vehicle motion in reverse
gear that may result from a driver shifting error, the proposed amendment would allow a
propulsion system to start and stop automatically in reverse gear only if the system exhibits,
at least, a minimum “creep force” when the engine is stopped.
7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:
Safety
8. Relevant documents:   68 Federal Register (FR) 26269, 15 May 2003;  Title 49 Code of
Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 571.  Will appear in the Federal Register when adopted.
9. Proposed date of adoption:
Proposed date of entry into force: }To be determined
10. Final date for comments:   14 July 2003          
11. Texts available from:  National enquiry point [ X] or address, telephone and fax
numbers, e-mail and web-site addresses, if available of the other body:
http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/index.html