Some Legislators
Want to Put a Stop
To Car 'Spinners'
By JENNIFER SARANOW
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
May 26, 2005
Custom wheels are starting to face a legal backlash.
Bills introduced this year in at least three states seek to ban wheels and hubcaps called "spinners," which make wheels look as if they are still rotating when a car is stopped.
The idea behind the laws is that spinners can be disconcerting to other drivers and possibly play a role in causing accidents. Spinners are among the high-end accessories that car enthusiasts have increasingly turned to in recent years to dress up and personalize their vehicles.
A bill pending in New York aims to prohibit the use or sale of hubcaps designed to continue moving when a vehicle comes to a stop. Under the bill, introduced last month, first-time violators would face a fine of $150 and then as much as $750 for additional violations. Those selling spinning hubcaps would be fined $150 for each device sold.
In Iowa, a bill introduced this past session, and still in committee, would ban the use of rotating hubcaps or wheel covers on highways and fine violators $10. Elsewhere, legislation proposed this year in Virginia would have prohibited wheel covers, wheels, hub caps or similar devices that create the illusion of movement when a vehicle is stopped or vice versa. The Virginia bill died in committee, and its sponsor has not decided yet whether he plans to reintroduce it.
According to the Specialty Equipment Market Association, or SEMA, a trade group representing manufacturers of aftermarket products, specialty wheels and tires are now a $3.2 billion industry, double from a decade ago and now 10% of the aftermarket industry.
Spinning wheels can cost as much as a couple thousand dollars, while spinner hubcaps that lend a less complete rotating look can run under $100. Spinners tend to show up on all kinds of vehicles, but most often on sport-utility vehicles and trucks.
"We are trying to educate legislators that this is a styling and customization trend," says Steve McDonald, vice president of government affairs at SEMA, which has been lobbying against the bills. "There is no proven safety-related evidence that shows spinners should be banned from the marketplace."
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the government's auto-safety agency, sets motor vehicle and equipment-performance safety standards, and investigates safety-defect complaints and reports from consumers and manufactures.
Legislators, meanwhile, maintain that spinning accessories could deceive other drivers, say at stoplights or stop signs, leading them to misjudge the speed of spinner-adorned vehicles and react in ways that could cause accidents, such as slamming on the brakes.
According to SEMA's Mr. McDonald, the proposed laws come as spinners are becoming passe among car enthusiasts after peaking about two years ago.
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