Posted on Tuesday, November 21, 2017 - 04:12 am:

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II. How This Rulemaking Began—Granting Vectrix's Petition

As described in the notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) published in the Federal Register (68 FR 65667) on November 21, 2003, this rulemaking began with NHTSA's decision to grant a petition for rulemaking from Vectrix Corporation. We granted the petition in light of a number of petitions we received requesting temporary exemption from the rear brake location requirement of FMVSS No. 123, i.e., temporary exemptions from S5.2.1 (Table 1) of FMVSS No. 123. These petitions have come from manufacturers of scooters with automatic transmissions and handlebar-mounted brake controls, which is a common arrangement for scooters sold in Europe, Asia, and other parts of the world outside of the United States. These manufacturers wished to sell their scooters in the United States but were prevented from doing so by the requirement that motorcycles be equipped with a right foot control for the rear brake.

NHTSA then focused its discussion on the first manufacturer, Aprilia S.p.A. of Noale, Italy, to petition for a temporary exemption from S5.2.1 (Table 1) of FMVSS No. 123. For the rear brakes, Aprilia's Leonardo 150 motorcycle had a left handlebar control, not the right foot control specified in FMVSS No. 123. Aprilia petitioned to be permitted to use the left handlebar as the location for the rear brake control for the Leonardo 150. The Leonardo's 150 cc engine produces more than the five horsepower maximum permitted for motor-driven cycles, so it was not permitted to have its rear brake controlled by a lever on the left handlebar.

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