[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 28 (Friday, February 9, 1996)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 4938-4939]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-2741]



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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

49 CFR Part 571

[Docket No. 74-09; Notice 44]
RIN 2127-AF02


Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Child Restraint Systems

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 
Department of Transportation.

ACTION: Clarification of compliance date.

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SUMMARY: The subject of this document is a final rule that amended 
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 213, ``Child 
Restraint Systems,'' (49 CFR Sec. 571.213) to add a greater array of 
sizes and weights of test dummies for use in compliance tests. The 
compliance date for the rule (i.e., the date on which manufacturers 
must begin complying with the amendments) is September 1, 1996.
    NHTSA typically includes language in its regulations, when 
appropriate, to permit manufacturers the option of complying with new 
requirements before the compliance date of those requirements. However, 
the agency inadvertently omitted such language from the above-mentioned 
rulemaking documents. This document corrects this oversight and 
announces the date on which it became permissible for manufacturers to 
begin voluntarily producing child restraint systems that comply with 
the new requirements.

DATES: The effective date (i.e., the date on which the text of the CFR 
is changed) of the final rule published July 6, 1995 (60 FR 35126) and 
corrected September 29, 1995 (60 FR 50477), remains January 3, 1996.
    Beginning January 3, 1996, it was permissible for manufacturers to 
begin complying with these amendments voluntarily.
    The mandatory compliance date for the amendments made by those 
documents (i.e., the date on which manufacturers must begin complying 
with the amendments) is September 1, 1996.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

    For nonlegal issues: Dr. George Mouchahoir, Office of Vehicle 
Safety Standards (telephone 202-366-4919).
    For legal issues: Ms. Deirdre Fujita, Office of the Chief Counsel 
(202-366-2992). Both can be reached at the National Highway Traffic 
Safety Administration, 400 Seventh St., S.W., Washington, D.C., 20590.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On July 6, 1995 (60 FR 35126), NHTSA 
published a final rule (later corrected September 29, 1995 (60 FR 
50477)) amending Standard 213, ``Child Restraint Systems,'' to add a 
greater array of sizes and weights of test dummies for use in 
compliance tests and to revise labeling requirements. (This amendment 
is hereinafter referred to as ``the upgraded requirements.'') The 
compliance date for the rule for manufacturers of add-on (portable) 
child restraints was January 3, 1996. In response to requests in 
petitions for reconsideration from two manufacturers of add-on 
restraints, NHTSA extended this compliance date to September 1, 1996, 
to provide more leadtime to manufacturers of add-on restraints to meet 
the requirements and to make the compliance date the same as that for 
manufacturers of built-in restraints. 60 FR 63651, December 12, 1995.
    Ms. Kathleen Weber of the Child Passenger Protection Research 
Program of the University of Michigan Medical School (UM-CPP) asked the 
agency whether manufacturers of add-on systems could begin meeting the 
upgraded requirements before September 1, 1996, the compliance date for 
those requirements. She stated that while some manufacturers may need 
until September 1996 to comply, other manufacturers might already have 
the capability to meet the upgraded requirements and might wish to meet 
them before that date.
    In its rules amending FMVSSs to add new requirements, NHTSA usually 
discusses the issue of whether vehicles or equipment manufactured 
before the compliance date for the new requirements may comply with 
those new requirements in lieu of complying with the existing 
requirements. However, in the rules establishing the upgraded 
requirements for Standard 213 and extending the compliance date of the 
requirements for add-on restraints to September 1996, the agency 
inadvertently omitted any discussion of early voluntary compliance. To 
correct that oversight, this document makes it clear that add-on and 
built-in child restraint systems may comply with the upgraded 
requirements in advance of the September 1, 1996 mandatory compliance 
date without violating any other provisions in Standard 213 or 49 
U.S.C. 30101 et seq. (formerly the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle 
Safety Act).
    NHTSA notes, however, that the upgraded requirements are subject to 
change. There are still a number of pending petitions for 
reconsideration of the July 1995 rule. While NHTSA responded to the 
requests in the petitions for reconsideration of the 

[[Page 4939]]
effective (compliance) date for the rule, the agency has yet to respond 
to requests concerning several substantive provisions of the rule. 
Those provisions include the ones specifying which child test dummy is 
used to test a particular restraint system, and the ones specifying new 
labeling requirements. The agency's decision on these requests will be 
announced in the Federal Register in the near future. If the agency 
makes changes in the upgraded requirements of July 1995 in response to 
those requests, those changes could affect those manufacturers which 
voluntarily comply with the July 1995 requirements before the mandatory 
compliance date of September 1, 1996, as well as all child restraint 
manufacturers after that date. Thus, while manufacturers which 
voluntarily comply with the upgraded requirements as currently written 
will be in compliance with Standard 213, they would be responsible for 
complying with any revised requirements (made in response to petitions 
for reconsideration) once the mandatory compliance date for those 
revisions takes effect. If the agency makes any changes, it would 
provide whatever leadtime, if any, is necessary to meet them.
    This document does not impose any additional responsibilities on 
any child restraint or vehicle manufacturer. Instead, it corrects an 
oversight in the rules of July 6, 1995, as corrected, and of December 
12, 1995. This document merely clarifies that manufacturers which wish 
to produce restraints that comply with the upgraded requirements of 
Standard 213 before September 1, 1996, may do so.

    Authority: 49 U.S.C. 322, 30111, 30115, 30117 and 30166; 
delegation of authority at 49 CFR 1.50.

    Issued on: February 5, 1996.
Barry Felrice,
Associate Administrator for Safety Performance Standards.
[FR Doc. 96-2741 Filed 2-8-96; 8:45 am]
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