Specifications

FCS1362 Page 73 of 74 © Nov 2010
Appendix H: Swept area of the windscreen
This illustrates the area of the vehicle’s windscreen in which no part of the installed equipment must
reside in order to meet the legal requirements in section 2.3.
Conventional windscreens are divided into two areas:
1. Zone A, shown as a shaded area on the diagram below, is 290mm wide centred on the steering
wheel for the depth of the area swept by the vehicle’s rain wipers.
2. The remainder of the swept area which usually includes parts of the screen each side of zone A.
Advice from the Department for Transport stated the following two points. Note that satellite navigation
and data systems are used as examples of typical devices that utilise a screen for interaction but the
principle applies to any part of an installed system.
• In zone A, a satellite navigation/data system encroaching more than 10mm, and for the rest of the
swept area, a satellite navigation/data system encroaching more than 40mm would be illegal.
• Vehicles with satellite navigation/data systems fitted to their windscreens which are not readily
removable would only fail the MOT if the satellite navigation/data system seriously restricted the
driver’s view.