[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 133 (Wednesday, July 12, 1995)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 35888-35891]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-17088]



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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

49 CFR Part 571

[Docket No. 94-70, Notice 2]


Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 206; Door Locks and Door 
Retention Components

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, DOT.

ACTION: Notice of public meeting and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: This document announces a public meeting to seek comments on 
potential upgrading of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 206, 
Door Locks and Door Retention Components, to further reduce the 
likelihood of occupants being ejected through side door openings as a 
result of vehicle crashes.
    The purpose of this public meeting is to inform all interested 
parties about the current status of NHTSA's research on side door 
ejections and potential countermeasures for ejection reduction, and to 
solicit comments on the agency's findings. In addition, the agency 
wishes to obtain information related to reduction of side door 
ejections through development of improved latches and other 
countermeasures that are being undertaken by domestic and foreign 
vehicle manufacturers, and other organizations. The information 
gathered at this meeting will assist the agency in deciding its future 
course of action to solve the side door ejection problem. In addition, 
the agency is also seeking information from safety groups or other 
interested parties who may have conducted their own investigation on 
the magnitude of the safety problem in this area and potential 
solutions.

DATES: The meeting will be held on August 7, 1995 at the address given 
below, starting at 9:00 a.m. Persons or organizations desiring to make 
presentations at the public meeting are asked to advise NHTSA of their 
intent by July 24, 1995. Copies of presentations, or an outline 
thereof, should be submitted to the contact person shown below not 
later than July 31, 1995. All written comments and statements on the 
subjects discussed at the meeting must be received by the agency no 
later than August 21, 1995 so that such comments and statements could 
be included in the final transcripts of the public meeting.

ADDRESSES: The public meeting will be held at the following address: 
Holiday Inn-Fair Oaks Mall, 11787 Lee Jackson Memorial Highway, 
Fairfax, VA 22033. Tel: (703)-352-2525 and Fax: (703)-352-4471.
    Requests to make a presentation and a copy of the presentation, or 
an outline thereof, should be sent to: Dr. Joseph Kanianthra, Chief, 
Side and Rollover Crash Protection Division, Office of Vehicle Safety 
Standards, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 400 Seventh 
Street SW., Washington, DC 20590.
    Written comments should refer to the docket and notice number shown 
above and ten copies should be submitted to Docket Section, National 
Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Room 5109, 400 Seventh Street 
SW., Washington, DC 20590. However, submissions containing information 
for which confidential treatment is requested should be submitted with 
three copies to Chief Counsel, National Highway Traffic Safety 
Administration, Room 5219, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC 
20590. Seven additional copies from which the purportedly confidential 
information has been deleted should be submitted to the Docket Section.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Dr. Joseph Kanianthra, Chief, Side and Rollover Crash Protection 
Division, Office of Vehicle Safety Standards, National Highway Traffic 
Safety Administration, 400 Seventh street SW., Washington, DC 20590. 
Tel: (202)-366-4924, and Fax: (202)-366-4329.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 
(FMVSS) No. 206, Door Locks and Door Retention Components (49 CFR 
571.206), specifies performance requirements for side door locks, 
latches, hinges and other support means used in vehicles to minimize 
the likelihood of occupants being ejected through the side door 
openings. The standard requires, among other items, each latch and 
striker system and each hinge system not to disengage when a 
longitudinal force of 2,500 lbs or a transverse force of 2,000 lbs is 
applied. In addition, the standard requires each latch and striker 
system not to disengage when a 30-g inertial loading is applied in the 
longitudinal or transverse direction. To assess the effectiveness of 
the standard, the agency conducted a rulemaking evaluation study ``An 
Evaluation of Door Locks and Roof Crush Resistance of Passenger Cars--
Federal Motor Vehicles Safety Standards Number 206 and 216'' (DOT HS 
807-489, November 1989). In the study, the fatal ejection risk in 
rollovers was calculated for passenger cars manufactured during the 
1963-1982 period. The study concluded that latch improvements 
implemented in 1963-1968 reduced the fatal ejection risk by 15 percent 
in rollover accidents.
    It is well known that promoting seat belt usage is the most cost/
effective means to reduce the risk of ejection. The agency and vehicle 
manufacturers have been promoting seat belt usage for many years and, 
consequently, the average seat belt usage rate has increased 
dramatically in recent years. However, the NASS accident data show that 
the total fatal ejections per year remain relatively constant since 
1978 in spite of significant increases in seat belt usage in recent 
years. The agency believes that there are two counter balancing effects 
which contribute to maintaining the number of ejection fatalities and 
injuries relatively constant. The reduced ejection rates due to an 
increase in seat belt usage is probably off-set by the exceptional high 
ejection rates in small cars, light trucks and multipurpose passenger 
vehicles. The increasing number of small cars on the highway since the 
late 1970's and the current consumer preference of using pickups, mini-
vans and utility vehicles for personal transportation are likely to 
increase the total number of fatal ejections in those vehicles. Thus, 
any benefits derived from increased seat belt usage appear to have been 
off-set by the increase in ejections experienced in small cars, light 
trucks, and multipurpose passenger vehicles. It is estimated that in 
1995 and beyond side door ejections will result in approximately 1,475 
fatalities and 1,925 AIS 3+ injured survivors. Therefore, side door 
ejections are and will remain a significant safety problem.
    Since the issuance of FMVSS No. 206 in 1967, the agency has 
investigated many crashes associated with side door openings and 
ejections. In 1986, the agency initiated a pilot study ``Side Door 
Latch/Hinge Assembly Evaluation'' (DOT HS 807-234, October 1986) to 
investigate side door latch strength and occupant ejection problems. 
Since then, the agency has continued its research efforts in this area. 
To date, the agency has identified many real world latch failure 
mechanisms and has developed a set of test procedures that may be 
suitable for evaluating the performance of the latch and striker 
systems used in most production vehicles. These test procedures 
potentially address only a small portion of possible failure modes that 
are occurring in real world crashes. The agency has concluded that the 
side door ejection problem involves a variety of different latch 
failure mechanisms, and that there is not a single representative latch 
failure mode that 

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causes the door to open in real world crashes. Each latch failure mode 
must be dealt with individually as a unique event. Therefore, the 
agency's options are:
    (1) To Upgrade FMVSS No. 206's Test Procedures: FMVSS No. 206 could 
be upgraded by including additional tests under FMVSS NO. 206. Those 
additional tests may include by-pass tests, full door longitudinal and 
transverse load tests, GM rotation tests, inertial loading tests and 
other tests. The performance levels have to be determined from the test 
results of latches of those vehicles selected from the accident data 
files with low and high door opening rates and latch failure rates. 
However, this option has the disadvantage of multiple tests for 
manufacturers' certification and the agency's enforcement efforts.
    (2) To Require a Secondary Latch for All Doors: In 1994, NHTSA 
contracted EASi Engineering to develop and manufacture a secondary door 
latch system which is able to:
    1. resist forces in different directions.
    2. meet FMVSS No. 206's fully latched test requirements.
    3. mitigate by-pass and linkage activation failures.
    EASi Engineering, based on the above criteria, developed a 
secondary latch system for a 1991 Ford Taurus. Therefore, an 
alternative option is to amend FMVSS No. 206 requiring a secondary 
latch mechanism for all doors. This option has the definite advantage 
of limited test requirements for the latch itself. However, the 
effectiveness of a secondary latch system in real world crashes is not 
known at this time.
    (3) To Use a modified FMVSS No. 214 test: FMVSS No. 214 specifies a 
static door crush test and requires side doors of a vehicle to remain 
attached in a dynamic side impact test. The static door crush test of 
FMVSS No. 214 includes longitudinal, transverse, and rotational forces 
experienced by the latch and striker system in a real world crash. 
FMVSS No. 214 requires that the peak crush resistance of a side door 
shall not be less than two times the curb weight of its vehicle or 
7,000 pounds, whichever is less. In general, this peak transverse load 
would induce a longitudinal load in excess of 2,500 pounds to the latch 
and striker system of the door. It appears that the static door crush 
test requirements possibly surpass those of FMVSS No. 206's 
longitudinal tests. Therefore, the longitudinal load test of FMVSS No. 
206 may be redundant. The transverse load tests of FMVSS No. 206 could 
be replaced by a modified FMVSS No. 214 test. In a static door crush 
test, both the latch and the hinges of a door are tested simultaneously 
and the latch and striker system of the door is subjected to pulling, 
shearing and twisting forces which simulate some of the real world 
loading conditions. In a dynamic side impact test, some of the dynamic 
effects on the side structure in crashes are also simulated. In 
addition, potential structural effects of the door and pillar component 
responses upon the latch strength could be duplicated in a test 
procedure developed for the purpose. It appears that FMVSS No. 214 
types of tests are a potential option for rulemaking actions associated 
with side door ejection reduction.
    A disadvantage of this option is that the door latch and striker 
system is not subjected to a significant longitudinal compression which 
was found in the agency's research to be a critical load component 
associated with by-pass failures.

PUBLIC MEETING: All interested persons and organizations are invited to 
attend the meeting. To assist interested parties to prepare for the 
meeting, the agency has developed a preliminary outline, shown below, 
or major topics to be discussed at the meeting. Any additional agenda 
items of interest could be included by making a request to the agency 
at the address given in the notice.

Preliminary Outline of Topics for Public Meeting

1. Accident Data
    (A) Estimated Target Population
    (B) Door Opening Rate Analysis
    (C) Hard Copy Accident Data Analysis
2. Status of Door Latch research: Test Procedures Evaluated
    (A) Bench Component Tests
    (B) In Vehicle Component Tests
    (C) Other Test Methods
3. Future Research: Potential Countermeasures
    (A) Upgrade of FMVSS No. 206
    (B) Secondary Latch System Development
    (C) FMVSS No. 214 Types of Tests Development
    (D) Other Methods

    The agency intends to conduct the meeting informally, along the 
lines of the public meeting on head impact protection held on November 
15, 1993. The agency will summarize its activities in the three major 
topic areas at the beginning of the discussion for each topic, followed 
by presentations by other interested parties. Before moving to the next 
major topic area, there will be an informal discussion period. 
Interested persons may ask questions or provide comments during this 
period. The public may submit written questions to the presiding 
official to consider asking of particular participants or presenters.
    The agency will provide an overhead projector, a slide projector 
and a TV-VCR system. The agency requests that persons planning to use 
other visual aids in their presentations must indicate to the agency 
their requirements. A copy of the charts and other materials used in 
the presentation must be provided to the agency for the docket at the 
end of the meeting.

COMMENTS: The agency invites all interests parties to submit written 
comments concerning the agenda items planned to be discussed in the 
meeting. The agency notes that participation in the public meeting is 
not a prerequisite for submission of written comments. Anyone desiring 
submission of comments should send them to the same address as above 
and must follow the same requirements outlined in section ADDRESSES.
    No comment may exceed 15 pages in length (49 CFR 553.21). This 
limitation is intended to encourage commenters to detail their primary 
arguments in a concise fashion. Necessary attachments may be appended 
to a comment without regard to the 15-page limit. All comments that are 
submitted within two weeks after the date of the public meeting will be 
available for public review in the docket. Those persons who desire to 
be notified upon receipt of their written comments in the Docket 
Section should enclose, in the envelope with their comments, a self-
addressed stamped postcard. Upon receipt, the docket supervisor will 
return the postcard by mail.
    Persons making oral presentations at the meeting are requested, but 
not required, to submit 25 written copies of the full text of their 
representation to Dr. Joseph Kanianthra no later than the day before 
the meeting. Presentations are limited to 15 to 20 minutes. If time 
permits, persons who have not requested presentation time, but want to 
make a statement will be afforded an opportunity to do so at the end of 
the meeting. Copies of all written statements, if provided by the 
commenters within two weeks after the meeting, will be placed in the 
docket. However, a verbatim transcript of the meeting will be prepared 
by NHTSA and placed in the basket as soon as possible after the 
meeting.

    Authority: 49 U.S. Secs. 322, 30111; delegation of authority at 
49 CFR 1.50.


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    Issued on: July 7, 1995.
Patricia Breslin,
Acting Associate Administrator for Safety Performance Standards.
[FR Doc. 95-17088 Filed 7-11-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-58-M