According to DetNews, the organization has asked for more time to complete the rules which will govern this new safety requirement, without providing any time table that would clarify when the regulations will be ready.
Meant as a measure to save approximately 100 lives a year, the adoption of rear view cameras will lead to a rise in price for vehicles, on average by $159 to $203 per vehicle and cost the industry $1.9 billion to $2.7 billion annually.
"The public comment period on this safety proposal only recently closed, and NHTSA has asked Congress for additional time to analyze public comments, complete the rulemaking process and issue a final rule," NHTSA said in a statement.
The NHTSA has decided to ask for the introduction of rear view cameras as standard after it found that, on average, 292 fatalities and 18,000 injuries occur each year as a result of back-over crashes involving all types of vehicles.
Of them, 228 fatalities involve light vehicles weighing 10,000 pounds or less, with the most likely victims being children and the elderly (44 percent of fatalities involving light vehicles are children under five and 33 percent are elderly people 70 years of age or older).
"There is no more tragic accident than for a parent or caregiver to back out of a garage or driveway and kill or injure an undetected child playing behind the vehicle," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said a few months ago.
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