Motor vehicles: heating systems for the passenger compartment (amend. direct. 70/156/EEC, repeal. direct. 78/548/EEC)

Both the amendments are highly technical in nature and do not interfere with the safety requirements. The two amendments are acceptable to the Commission. The first amendment limits the requirement that the combustion chamber and the heat exchanger should be capable of withstanding a prescribed pressure to heaters using water as a transfer medium. For heaters using air as a transfer medium, the corresponding test is the leakage test. The second amendment adds a requirement that the supply of fuel should be stopped when the engine is switched off (part 1) and gives an exemption from this requirement for manually operated heaters (part 2). As LPG fuelled heaters are currently not covered by this Directive, the second part of the amendment is amended. The Commission proposal shall therefore be amended as follows: - the combustion chamber and the heat exchanger of heaters using water as a transfer medium shall be capable of withstanding a pressure of twice the normal operating pressure or 2 bar (guage), which is greater. The test pressure shall be noted in the information document; - the heating system must be switched off automatically and supply of fuel must be stopped within 5 seconds when the vehicles's engine stops running. If a manual device is already activated, the heating system can stay in operation.�