[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 130 (Tuesday, October 17, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10614-S10615]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             THE TREAD ACT

  Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. President, I rise today to clarify the history 
and intent of section 14 of the Transportation Recall Enhancement, 
Accountability, and Documentation Act, which passed the Senate on 
Wednesday. This section of the legislation is based on the Child 
Passenger Protection Act of 2000, which I introduced on February 10, 
2000 with my colleague from Arkansas, Blanche Lincoln, and my colleague 
from Pennsylvania, Rick Santorum.
  The purpose of the Child Passenger Protection Act of 2000 is to 
enhance children's safety in motor vehicles. It calls for the adoption 
of improved child restraint safety performance standards and testing 
requirements, and it requires the Secretary of Transportation to 
provide parents with better consumer information about child 
restraints.
  Child deaths in motor vehicle crashes in the United States have 
declined some since 1975, but significant work remains to be done in 
the area of child passenger safety. Motor vehicle crashes are the 
single leading cause of death and serious injury for young children in 
the United States.
  Each year, up to 600 children under the age of five die in car 
crashes, and up to 70,000 are injured as occupants in motor vehicle 
crashes. Motor vehicle crashes cause about one of every three injury 
deaths among children 12 and younger in this country.
  A child restraint that is installed and used correctly can prevent 
many injuries and deaths. The failure of some consumers to use age- and 
weight-appropriate child restraints has been well documented. Many 
consumers who purchase and use child restraints have little guidance or 
information with which to distinguish among the broad array of models, 
sizes, shapes and features of child restraints that are being sold in 
retail stores.
  A child restraint that is well designed can prevent still more child 
injuries and deaths. The former top safety official at the National 
Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA), Dr. Ricardo 
Martinez, stated, in a letter dated September 14, 1999 to all 
manufacturers of child restraints sold in the United States: ``[m]any 
restraints have been engineered to barely comply with some of the most 
safety-critical requirements of the [Federal] standard.'' NHTSA also 
has questioned the efforts of some child restraint manufacturers to 
have child restraint defects characterized as ``inconsequential'' to 
avoid recall campaigns, and the agency recently suggested that child 
restraints be assigned safety ratings.
  NHTSA is the agency within the United States Department of 
Transportation that monitors the safety of child restraints. NHTSA's 
primary method for verifying that a child restraint is designed to meet 
Federal safety standards is its compliance testing program. In 
compliance tests, Federal regulators subject the child restraint to a 
sled test that simulates a frontal collision with a stationary object.
  The sled test used by NHTSA to verify a child restraint's performance 
does not consider how that restraint will perform in rear-impact, 
rollover, or side-impact crashes; and the sleds used in government 
compliance tests bear limited resemblance to the interiors of today's 
passenger vehicles. These sleds feature flat bench seats with lap belts 
that were common in automobiles of the mid-1970s, but which do not 
apply to many of the passenger vehicles that are on our roads these 
days.
  Child restraints are too often marketed for children who are heavier 
than the anthropomorphic test dummies used by NHTSA in these sled 
tests. One private group's testing has shown that child restraints 
tested with a child at the highest weight recommended by the 
manufacturer have failed. NHTSA should allow child restraints to be 
marketed for children at specific weights only if the restraint has 
been tested at those weights.
  The current Federal standard for child restraints, known as Federal 
Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 213, is overdue to be upgraded to better 
reflect new developments in technology.

[[Page S10615]]

 While the current safety standard for child restraints specifies that 
child restraints be tested at an impact of 30 mph, tests are regularly 
conducted at speeds as low as 27.6 mph. The Government does not crash 
test any child restraints in actual motor vehicles; and it has not 
required that child restraint manufacturers simplify and standardize 
instructions for installing and using child restraints.
  Finally, although head injuries from motor vehicle collisions 
frequently are the cause of serious injuries or fatalities, many makes 
and models of child restraints do not offer side-impact padding or 
other protection from head injuries in side-impact crashes. The Child 
Passenger Protection Act requires the Secretary of the U.S. Department 
of Transportation (DOT) to initiate a rulemaking that would address 
these and other deficiencies in our current child restraint system.
  Under this legislation, DOT will also begin a comprehensive program 
to provide information to consumers for use in making informed 
decisions in the purchase of child restraints. The Secretary must issue 
a notice of proposed rulemaking to establish such a program within 12 
months of the bill's enactment, and it must issue a final rule within 
24 months of the bill's enactment.
  The Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs, Foreign Commerce and Tourism 
held a field meeting on June 19, 2000 in St. Louis, MO, to discuss the 
Child Passenger Protection Act. My colleague from Missouri, Senator 
John Ashcroft, chaired this field meeting, at which the subcommittee 
heard testimony from NHTSA, highway safety advocates, and a pediatric 
surgeon concerning the current state of child passenger safety and 
additional ways to improve safety. S. 2070 passed the full Committee on 
Commerce, with a substitute amendment, by voice vote on September 20, 
2000.
  This committee amendment to S. 2070, which has been incorporated into 
section 14 of the TREAD Act, also requires a study, within 12 months of 
the bill's enactment, of automobile booster seat use and effectiveness. 
In addition, this committee amendment requires DOT to develop a 5-year 
strategic plan to reduce deaths and injuries caused by the failure to 
use an appropriate booster seat for children between the ages of 4 and 
8 years. The bill thus focuses more attention on an issue that 
automobile safety advocates have dubbed the ``forgotten child 
problem.'' This problem exists for children, usually between the ages 
of four and eight years, who have outgrown their infant child 
restraints but who do not fit properly in adult seat belts.
  I want to close by extending my thanks to all who have so strongly 
supported this legislation, including the American College of Emergency 
Physicians, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, the Easter Seals 
KARS program, State Farm Insurance, SafetyBeltSafe U.S.A., the National 
SAFE KIDS Campaign, the co-authors of the book Baby Bargains, Consumers 
Union, and the American Automobile Association. I congratulate my 
colleague from Illinois, Congressman John Shimkus, who introduced 
companion legislation in the House of Representatives, for his fine 
work on getting this legislation included in the TREAD Act and through 
the House of Representatives on Tuesday. I am pleased that this 
important piece of legislation passed the Senate unanimously last week.

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