使美国车辆不同于欧洲或日本的法规之一就是我们的车头灯规则。它们载于《联邦机动车安全标准》（FMVSS）中，对其进行修改是一个——或者说曾经是一个——漫长而费力的过程，这也是美国汽车照明技术落后的主要原因。但现任政府表示，现在是时候“增强驾驶员安全性、削减繁文缛节并拥抱新技术”了，因此它将启动一项协商 rulemaking 进程，以重写适合 2026 年的法规。
One of the regulations that make vehicles in the US different from those in Europe or Japan is our headlight rules. They’re laid out in the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS), and changing them is—or used to be—a lengthy, laborious process, which is a major reason automotive lighting technology has lagged in the US. But the current administration says it’s time for “bolstering driver safety, slashing red tape, and embracing new technologies,” so it’s going to start a negotiated rulemaking process to rewrite the regulations to suit 2026.
国家公路交通安全管理局的乔纳森·莫里森（Jonathan Morrison）表示：“当今的标准不允许汽车制造商部署最新的可提高安全性的照明技术，因此我们将关键专家和利益相关者聚集在一起，以使我们的标准现代化并解决眩光的潜在原因。这种协作方法将使我们能够更新过时的法规、促进创新并确保道路上每个人的安全。”虽然对政府精简官僚机构的努力持怀疑态度是合理的，但同样可以说，美国的车头灯法规确实需要更新。
“Today’s standards do not allow automakers to deploy the latest safety-improving lighting technologies, so we are bringing key experts and stakeholders together to modernize our standards and address potential causes of glare,” the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Jonathan Morrison said. “This collaborative approach will allow us to update outdated regulations, foster innovation, and keep everyone on our roads safer.”While it is fair to be skeptical of the government's efforts to streamline bureaucracy, it is also fair to say US headlight regulations really could use an update.