[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 12 (Thursday, February 10, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S626-S627]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. FITZGERALD (for himself and Mrs. Lincoln):
  S. 2070. A bill to improve safety standards for child restraints in 
motor vehicles; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
Transportation.


                 THE CHILD PASSENGER SAFETY ACT OF 2000

  Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. President, today, I am introducing legislation 
that will help us fight one of the leading killers of America's 
children--the automobile collision. Car crashes account for 1 of every 
3 deaths among children.
  In the United States we lose an average of 7 of our children every 
day to car collisions. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway 
Safety, crash injuries are the leading cause of death for the 5 to 12 
year old age group. Regrettably, up to half of the deaths involve 
children who already are buckled up or restrained in car seats and 
booster seats.
  That is why I am introducing legislation to substantially improve the 
child safety seats that we buy to protect our children. My bill, ``The 
Child Passenger

[[Page S627]]

Safety Act of 2000,'' would direct the National Highway Traffic Safety 
Administration to improve the safety features of car seats, to upgrade 
the way we test and certify car seats, to consider adopting measures to 
better protect older children, and to give parents the information they 
need to shop for, and install, safe car seats for their children.
  Over the years, NHTSA has implemented many measures to improve child 
passenger safety. I applaud, in particular, the NHTSA Administrator's 
recent efforts to implement a new tether requirement for child seat 
makers and automobile manufacturers.
  But we cannot allow these past successes to obscure a fundamental 
fact: too many of our children are killed or injured in car crashes 
every day. We should not wait to begin upgrading the safety of child 
car seats and booster seats.
  The first thing this bill seeks to do is to improve the testing of 
car seats and booster seats. It calls for the government to consider 
using more dummies that simulate children of many different ages in 
these tests. A six-month old has a very different build than an 
eighteen-month-old, and an eighteen-month-old is very different from a 
six-year old. In Europe, they use as many as six different child 
dummies in testing their car seats and booster seats, ranging in age 
from newborn to ten years. In this country, we do not crash test child 
safety seats with dummies that represent a premature infant, an 
eighteen-month-old or a ten-year-old.
  Currently, we test car seats on a sled. My bill directs NHTSA to put 
car seats in some of the actual cars that already are being tested 
under an existing program. Under this program, called the ``New Car 
Assessment Program,'' the government buys 40 or so vehicles and crash 
tests them to see how each would perform in a collision in the real 
world. Why, Mr. President, could we not put at least one car seat or 
booster seat in each of these cars? Doing it would help us better 
understand how these safety seats perform in the real world.
  In addition, my bill calls for the government to study ways to update 
the seat bench that is used in tests of child safety seats to better 
reflect the design of modern vehicles. The seat bench from a 1975 Chevy 
Impala with lap belts is what we now use to test car seats.
  I am also asking the government to focus attention on how car seats 
and booster seats perform in rollover, rear-impact, and side-impact 
crashes, as they do in Europe. These types of crashes are not as common 
as frontal collisions, but they result in a number of injuries and 
deaths. Finally, my proposal calls upon NHTSA to increase the funds 
they spend on testing car seats each year to at least $750,000, from 
the current $500,000.
  Second, we must deal with the problem of head injuries in side-impact 
crashes and rollovers. Children's heads and necks are even more 
vulnerable than those of adults, because children's heads are larger in 
proportion to the rest of their bodies. In Europe, car seats have side 
impact padding to better protect children's heads in these types of 
crashes. My bill would require car seat manufacturers in the U.S. to 
provide the same type of protection.
  Third, we must focus more attention on an issue that auto safety 
advocates have dubbed ``the forgotten child'' problem. The ``forgotten 
children'' (ages 8-12) have outgrown their car seats but do not fit 
properly in adult seat belts. In crashes, they are at greater risk than 
other passengers. My bill calls for NHTSA to close this child safety 
seat gap, but it leaves it up to NHTSA to decide when and how to do 
that. The agency could, for example, encourage the states to pass more 
laws requiring the use of booster seats for older children. They could 
do it by mounting a public information campaign about the importance of 
booster seats. Or they could amend our safety standards for seat belts.
  Fourth and finally, we must get more information to parents about the 
safety of various car seats on the market today, as well, Mr. 
President, as on the correct means of installing car seats. My bill 
directs NHTSA to institute a new crash test results information system 
that will help equip parents with the safety information and knowledge 
they need to make rational choices when they are buying and installing 
car seats for their children. My bill also requires that the warning 
labels on child seats be straightforward and written in plain English.
  Next week is National Child Passenger Safety Week. What better time 
than now to make these efforts to protect our children? I urge my 
colleagues to support this vitally important legislation.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 2070

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Child Passenger Protection 
     Act of 2000''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       Congress finds that--
       (1) each day, an average of 7 children are killed and 866 
     injured in motor vehicle crashes;
       (2) certain standards and testing procedures for child 
     restraints in the United States are not as rigorous as those 
     in some other countries;
       (3) although the Federal Government establishes safety 
     standards for child restraints, the Federal Government--
       (A) permits companies that manufacture child restraints to 
     conduct their own tests for compliance with the safety 
     standards and interpret the results of those tests, but does 
     not require that the manufacturers make the results of the 
     tests public;
       (B) has not updated test standards for child restraints--
       (i) to reflect the modern designs of motor vehicles in use 
     as of the date of enactment of this Act;
       (ii) to take into account the effects of a side-impact 
     crash, a rear-impact crash, or a rollover crash; and
       (iii) to require the use of anthropomorphic devices that 
     accurately reflect the heights and masses of children at ages 
     other than newborn, 9 months, 3 years, and 6 years; and
       (C) has not issued motor vehicle safety standards that 
     adequately protect children up to the age of 12 who weigh 
     more than 50 pounds; and
       (4) the Federal Government should update the test standards 
     for child restraints to reduce the number of children killed 
     or injured in automobile accidents in the United States.

     SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

       In this Act:
       (1) Child restraint.--The term ``child restraint'' has the 
     meaning given the term ``child restraint system'' in section 
     571.213 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations (as in 
     effect on the date of enactment of this Act).
       (2) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
     of Transportation.

     SEC. 4. TESTING OF CHILD RESTRAINTS.

       (a) In General.--Not later than 2 years after the date of 
     enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall update and improve 
     crash test standards and conditions for child restraints.
       (b) Elements for Consideration.--In carrying out subsection 
     (a), the Secretary shall consider--
       (1) whether to conduct more comprehensive and dynamic 
     testing of child restraints than is typically conducted as of 
     the date of enactment of this Act, including the use of test 
     platforms designed--
       (A) to simulate an array of accident conditions, such as 
     side-impact crashes, rear-impact crashes, and rollover 
     crashes; and
       (B) to reflect the designs of passenger motor vehicles in 
     use as of the date of enactment of this Act;
       (2) whether to use an increased number of anthropomorphic 
     devices in a greater variety of heights and masses; and
       (3) whether to provide improved protection in motor vehicle 
     accidents for children up to 59.2 inches tall who weigh more 
     than 50 pounds.
       (c) Required Elements.--In carrying out subsection (a), the 
     Secretary shall--
       (1) require that manufacturers design child restraints to 
     minimize head injuries during side-impact and rollover 
     crashes, including requiring that child restraints have side-
     impact protection;
       (2) include a child restraint in each vehicle crash-tested 
     under the New Car Assessment Program of the Department of 
     Transportation; and
       (3) prescribe readily understandable text for any labels 
     that are required to be placed on child restraints.
       (d) Funding.--For each fiscal year, of the funds made 
     available to the Secretary for activities relating to safety, 
     not less than $750,000 shall be made available to carry out 
     crash testing of child restraints.

     SEC. 5. CHILD RESTRAINT SAFETY RATING PROGRAM.

       Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this 
     Act, the Secretary shall develop and implement a safety 
     rating program for child restraints to provide practicable, 
     readily understandable, and timely information to parents and 
     caretakers for use in making informed decisions in the 
     purchase of child restraints.
                                 ______