Bill, I completely agree. and we now have a letter to consider on this very topic, so I'll be brief.

my General feeling is that the way it works now, everyone letting those who use some insulation slide, is fine if not "right". If we allow the addition of insulation via a rule, we have to write a VERY well worded rule or we basically invite insulation of whatever sort wherever on the car based on readings like the gearshift example. right now you see a guy saving his legs from heat, and you say "who cares." ditto the false floors and grip tape and all that to help driver comfort and controls accessibility. if you see someone with 25 lbs of dynomat all around the RR corner of the interior trunk area - you know it's BS and you can call him on it. I'm leaning toward "no rule works better than a rule" in this scenario.