Notices and Final Rules: Occupant Protection Information

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Notices and Final Rules Issued by NHTSA

OCCUPANT PROTECTION INFORMATION

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.

Interim final rule, request for comments.

This interim final rule amends the schedule for compliance by manufacturers of vehicles built in two or more stages with the upper interior head protection requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 201, Occupant Protection in Interior Impact.

FMVSS: Head Impact Protection

This document proposes to amend the upper interior impact requirements of Standard No. 201, Occupant Protection in Interior Impact, to permit, but not require, the introduction of dynamic head protection systems currently being developed by vehicle manufacturers to provide added lateral crash protection. Target points in those areas of the upper interior occupied by these dynamic systems would be allowed, with the systems undeployed, to meet slightly reduced requirements. To ensure that these dynamic systems would enhance safety, the proposal would add procedures and performance requirements for testing the systems, while deployed, through in-vehicle component tests or a combination of such in-vehicle tests and vehicle crash testing.

Effectiveness of Occupant Protection Systems and Their Use

Third Report to Congress
The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) of 1991, enacted by Congress on December 18, 1991, directed the Secretary of Transportation to report on the effectiveness of occupant protection systems based on their actual use, and on lap and shoulder belt use by the public and various groups at both the state and national levels (Section 2508 (e)). This is the third of five biennial reports on the effectiveness of occupant protection systems and safety belt use.

Amendment to: FMVSS 201; Occupant Protection in Interior Impact

49 CFR Parts 571, 572, and 589 [Docket No. 92-28; Notice 7] [RIN No. 2127-AB85]On August 18, 1995, NHTSA published a final rule amending Standard No. 201,Occupant Protection in Interior Impact, to require passenger cars and trucks, buses, and multipurpose passenger vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 10,000 pounds or less, to provide interior impact protection during a crash. In response to petitions for reconsideration, NHTSA is amending that final rule. The amendment was published on April 8^th.

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