National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued its final rule 31 March 2014 requiring backup cameras on all new vehicles less than 10,000 pounds by May 2018. The rule includes trucks and busses.

Field of view must include the 10 foot by 20 foot zone directly behind the vehicle.

Many automobile manufacturers are already installing the cameras.

FMVSS-111 Rear Visibility Final Rule is anticipated to significantly reduce the number of children backed over.

2010 estimated costs were $132 to $142 per vehicle, or $43 to $45 for camera only installations (vehicle already had a display).

This rule is very relevant to the rental houseboat situation where transom mounted cameras with displays at the helm were proposed as a solution to backing over people behind the houseboat and striking them with the propeller.

Component prices are going down as the automobile market volumes increase. Plus customer expectations are rising fast (I have one in my car, why don’t you have one on this houseboat?).

We encourage all houseboat manufacturers and houseboat rental operations to consider backup cameras where needed. We recognize automotive electronic components do not always easily translate to marine applications, but much can be learned from the automotive applications that can be applied to marine applications. Many boats already have displays and houseboats often have large displays.