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  • Vehicle Equipment Standards

  • The Vehicle Safety and Inspection (VSI) Discipline represents the AAMVA community's interests in vehicles and equipment standards.
    Among the issues are lighting, altered height vehicles, safety inspections and specialty vehicles.

    The discipline also promotes AAMVA's safety-related policies.

  • Many years ago, AAMVA conducted a program to approve vehicle-related safety equipment, including motorcycle crash helmets. AAMVA's equipment approval program was discontinued in the early 1980s.

    AAMVA continued certifying laboratories that conduct vehicle equipment testing until 1994. Both programs are now conducted independently by a private organization, not affiliated with AAMVA, called the Automotive Manufacturers Equipment Compliance Agency, Inc. (AMECA). Please contact AMECA for any questions regarding equipment compliance approval or laboratory certification. AMECA may also be reached at:

    1101 15th Street, NW
    Suite 607
    Washington, D.C. 20005
    Phone: 202-898-0145
    Fax: 202-898-0148

    Illegal aftermarket products of all colors and intensities have long been on the market. But now "legal" original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and aftermarket headlamps with a blue appearance are also on the market.

    The Vehicle Safety & Inspection (VSI) Committee is assisting law enforcement in distinguishing headlamps that meet Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards from those that do not.  

    Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards: 

    AAMVA members are working to resolve a difficult safety issue:  vehicles whose heights have been altered via suspension changes, lift kits and the addition of oversized tires. At what point do such alterations become "too high" to be safe?

    The current AAMVA policy focuses on limiting vehicle height to prevent rollover. It does not focus on the large mismatch of chassis heights that creates safety problems when vehicles with raised suspensions crash with vehicles of normal proportions. There are also concerns regarding override, under-ride, and braking problems.

    AAMVA's Vehicle Safety & Inspection (VSI) Committee is working to provide information to assist jurisdictions in promoting, retaining, and refining standards and statutes relating to these vehicles.


    Effect of Oversized Tires on Stopping Capability and Handling Stability of an Altered-Height Vehicle

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