Notices and Final Rules

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Notices and Final Rules Issued by NHTSA

ABOUT THIS PAGE

As of April 7, 1997, NHTSA expanded its posting of rulemaking documents on its web page. We are now posting all notices of proposed rulemaking and final rules that are considered to be "significant" by the office of Management and Budget. To the extent possible, we will also post other notices and rules, but resources do not yet permit us to post all of them.

The documents will be posted at the same time they go on public display at the Federal Register. For example, on April 7 we posted the final rule responding to petitions for reconsideration on Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 201, Occupant Protection in Interior Impact. The Federal Register made this rule public on April 7, 1997, and published it on April 8, 1997.

Tire Information

NPRM on Tire Pressure Monitoring System FMVSS No. 138

Preliminary Regulatory Impact Analysis - 09/29/2004
Under section 13 of the Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability, and Documentation (TREAD) Act, the Secretary of Transportation was required to complete a rulemaking for a regulation mandating a warning system in each new motor vehicle to indicate to the operator when a tire is significantly under-inflated.

Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems; Controls and Displays

Notice of proposed rulemaking - 09/15/2004
This notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) proposes to establish a new Federal motor vehicle safety standard mandating tire pressure monitoring systems capable of detecting when a tire is significantly under-inflated.

More Tire Information ...

Child Safety Information

NHTSA Announces New Measure To Enhance the Safety of Power Window Switches For the Protection of Children in Passenger Vehicles: Final Rule - 09/13/2004
This final rule amends our standard for power-operated windows, partitions, and roof panel systems to require that switches for these windows and other items in new motor vehicles be resistant to accidental actuation that causes those items to begin to close.
More Child Safety Information ....

Air Bag Information

Supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking (SNPRM): In September 1998, we proposed to upgrade our air bag requirements for passenger cars and light trucks to meet the twin goals mandated by the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century: improving protection for occupants of all sizes, belted and unbelted, in moderate to high speed crashes; and minimizing the risks posed by air bags to infants, children, and other occupants, especially in low speed crashes. In response to the public comments on our 1998 proposal and to other new information obtained since issuing the proposal, we are issuing a supplemental proposal that updates and refines the amendments under consideration.
More Air Bag Information ....

Accommodating People with Disabilities

Frequently Asked Questions on the Exemptions to the Make Inoperative Prohibition (posted 8/6/2003): This article was written to answer questions raised about the Final Rule by the National Mobility Equipment Dealers Association, a trade group representing modifiers of vehicles for people with disabilities. This article provides information on how to use the allowed exemptions and how to comply with the record keeping, labeling and consumer disclosure requirements of the regulation.
More Disabilities Information ....

Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE)

FMVSS NO. 301 Upgrade

The accompanying NPRM proposes to amend the rear and side impact tests of FMVSS 301, Fuel System Integrity. For the rear impact test, the agency is proposing a more stringent offset test using a lighter deformable barrier, but at a higher test speed of 80 km/h (50 mph). The agency is also proposing to replace the side test for FMVSS 301, with the FMVSS 214 (side impact protection) test. No changes are proposed for the frontal barrier crash test for FMVSS 301.

Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Fuel Systems Integrity. (Final Rule) - (11/25/2003): In this document, NHTSA is upgrading the rear impact test in the Federal motor vehicle safety standard on fuel system integrity.
Final Regulatory Evaluation.: (December, 2000)
Preliminary Regulatory Evaluation.: (November, 2000)

Glare from Headlamps and other Front Mounted Lamps - (9/26/2001): Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 108; Lamps, Reflective Devices, and Associated Equipment
[Docket No. 01-8885; Notice 01], RIN 2127-AH81

Grant of Petition for Rulemaking: The agency grants an August 20, 1996 petition for rulemaking from Consumers Union of United States, Inc., requesting NHTSA to commence a rulemaking proceeding to consider establishing "an emergency handling test [for sport-utility vehicles] and to require that information derived from that test be included in the consumer warnings required by the agency." The agency seeks to evaluate the issues raised in the petition in view of the agency's continuing interest in rollover safety, as evidenced by its 1994 rulemaking proposal to amend its consumer information regulations to require passenger vehicles to be labeled with information about their resistance to rollover, and other related rulemaking activities.

Head Restraints

49 CFR Part 571 [Docket No. NHTSA-2000-8570] RIN 2127-AH09 Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards Consistent with this agency's policy of seeking to adopt those regulatory requirements that produce the highest benefits at reasonable costs, this document proposes to upgrade the standard for head restraints for passenger cars and for light multipurpose vehicles, trucks and buses.

Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Head Impact Protection (Final Rule). - (03/01/2004)
Notice of proposed rulemaking.
Preliminary Economic Evaluation.

Low Speed Vehicles: 49 CFR Part 571, [Docket No. NHTSA 98-3949], RIN 2127-AG58
PRECIS OF SUMMARY: (for full text of Summary, see 63 FR 33913). Responding to a growing public interest in using small 4-wheeled passenger vehicles to make short trips within retirement or other planned communities, NHTSA has issued Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 500 Low-speed vehicles (LSV) based on its January 1997 proposal. Standard No. 500 requires basic safety equipment including lights, windshields windshield wipers, and seat belts on motor vehicles, other than trucks, whose maximum speed is between 20 and 25 miles per hour. The rule is effective June 17, 1998. The principal vehicle in this class is the Neighborhood Electric Vehicle (NEV). The rule does not apply to golf carts because their speed, as manufactured, is less than 20 mph. However, if any golf cart is modified on and after June 17, 1998, so that its maximum speed is over 20 mph, it must be conformed to Standard No. 500.

NAFTA Notices: The following three notices have been issued as part of the Department of Transportation's comprehensive program to open the borders to the Mexican commercial vehicle market, while assuring that those vehicles are safe. The notices address the requirement that these vehicles meet all applicable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS)

National Academy of Sciences' Study

[Docket No. 97-29; Notice 01] published in the Federal Register on May 20, 1997 (page 27648).

This notice summarizes a recent study by the National Academy of Sciences titled "Shopping for Safety - Providing Consumer Automotive Safety Information." The study makes a number of recommendations to NHTSA on ways to improve automobile safety information for consumers. This notice requests comments on NHTSA's response to the recommendations of this study and on programs NHTSA has begun or is considering to address these recommendations. NHTSA is requesting comments because it wishes to develop these programs in cooperation with other interested parties.

Comments must be received by (insert date 90 days following publication in the Federal Register).

NHTSA Vehicle Safety Rulemaking Priorities: 2003-2006

Final 2003-2006 Plan - 7/18/2003: The NHTSA Vehicle Safety Rulemaking Priorities Plan contained herein outlines the agency�s vehicle safety rulemaking actions for the period 2003 to 2006
Notice of Publication - 7/18/2003

Notice of proposed rulemaking: Event Data Recorders. -posted 06/09/2004: 49 CFR Part 563 [Docket No. NHTSA-2004-18029] RIN 2127-AI72
This proposal addresses event data recorders (EDRs), i.e., devices that record safety information about motor vehicles involved in crashes.

Occupant Protection

Notice of proposed rulemaking: Side Impact Phase-In Reporting Requirements -posted 05/12/2004: This NPRM would substantially upgrade the agency�s side impact protection standard, especially by requiring protection in crashes with narrow objects and protection against head injuries in side impact crashes with both narrow objects and other vehicles.
More Occupant Protection Information ....

Request for comments; notice of public workshop: Docket No. NHTSA-98-4956, Notice 1 RIN 2127-AH29
Agency Priorities and Public Participation in the Implementation of the 1998 Agreement on Global Technical Regulations; Statement of Policy

Rollover Resistance Rating

Rollover Resistance. Final Policy Statement. (posted 10/7/2003): [Docket No. NHTSA-2001- 9663; Notice 3], RIN 2127-AI81
The Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability, and Documentation Act of 2000 requires NHTSA to develop a dynamic test on rollovers by motor vehicles for the purposes of a consumer information program, to carry out a program of conducting such tests, and, as these tests are being developed, to conduct a rulemaking to determine how best to disseminate test results to the public. This document modifies NHTSA�s rollover resistance ratings in its New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) to include dynamic rollover tests after considering comments to our previous document. The changes described in this document will improve consumer information provided by NHTSA, but will not place regulatory requirements on vehicle manufacturers.; Also availible in the PDF format.
More Rollover Resistance Rating Information ....

School Bus

Multifunction School Activity Bus (Final rule) - (posted 07/29/2003): [DOT Docket No. NHTSA-2002-13704], RIN:� 2127-AH23; This final rule establishes a new class of school buses, multifunction school activity buses, for use in transporting children on trips other those than between home and school.

More School Bus Information ....

TREAD Act

Confidential Business Information (Final Rule): - 7/24/2002: This document amends the regulation on Confidential Business Information to simplify and update the regulation to reflect developments in the law and to address the application of the regulation to the early warning reporting regulation issued pursuant to the Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability, and Documentation (TREAD) Act.
More TREAD Act Information ....

Send Questions/Comments about air bag deactivations and air bag on-off switches to tistis@nhtsa.dot.gov.

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