Audiovox shares rise on backup video camera plan

Share prices for Audiovox Corp., a Hauppauge-based supplier of consumer electronics systems, spiked Friday on news that a U.S. agency may require backup video cameras on all newly manufactured cars.

Audiovox makes mobile video systems that can provide drivers with a view of a blind spot behind a vehicle.

As investors reacted to the news, Audiovox shares opened Friday at $7.02, spiked to $7.47, and closed at $7.15.

Bloomberg News estimated that the proposed new rule, which would go into effect by 2014, would require supplies of video components valued at up to $2.7 billion.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration published the proposed rule Friday. It said an average of 292 people die each year from back-over accidents, which mainly kill children and the elderly. The measure might reduce back-over deaths and injuries by almost half, the NTSA said.