[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 216 (Monday, November 9, 1998)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 60270-60271]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-29922]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

49 CFR Part 571

[Docket No. NHTSA 98-4672]


Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), DOT.

ACTION: Denial of petition for rulemaking.

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SUMMARY: This document denies a petition for rulemaking submitted by 
Price T. Bingham, a private individual. The petitioner requested that 
the agency initiate rulemaking to require air bag sensors to be 
designed so that data is recorded during a crash and can be read by 
crash investigators. The agency agrees that the recording of crash data 
from air bag sensors, as well as other vehicle sensors, can provide 
information that is very valuable in understanding crashes. This 
information can then be used in a variety of ways to improve motor 
vehicle safety. The agency is denying the petition because the auto 
industry is already voluntarily moving in the direction recommended by 
the petitioner. Further, the agency believes this area presents some 
issues that are, at least for the present time, best addressed in a 
non-regulatory context.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For non-legal issues: Mr. Clarke 
Harper, Chief, Light Duty Vehicle Division, NPS-11, National Highway 
Traffic Safety Administration, 400 Seventh Street, SW, Washington, DC 
20590. Telephone: (202) 366-2264. Fax: (202) 366-4329.
    For legal issues: J. Edward Glancy, Office of Chief Counsel, NCC-
20, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 400 Seventh Street, 
SW, Washington, DC 20590. Telephone: (202) 366-2992. Fax: (202) 366-
3820.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NHTSA received a petition for rulemaking 
from Price T. Bingham, a private individual. Mr. Bingham stated that 
air bag sensors are capable of collecting and recording data that could 
be extremely valuable to crash investigators. He stated his concern in 
light of air bag deployments that might be ``spontaneous,'' but did not 
limit his petition to that issue. The petitioner asked the agency to 
initiate rulemaking to require manufacturers to design their air bag 
sensors so that data are collected and recorded during a crash so that 
they can be read by crash investigators.

[[Page 60271]]

    NHTSA notes that the safety community in recent years has had 
considerable interest in the concept of crash event recorders. Such 
recorders can, in conjunction with the air bag and other sensors 
already provided on many vehicles, collect and record a variety of 
relevant crash data. These data include such things as vehicle speed, 
belt use, and crash pulse.
    The additional and more accurate data about crashes that could be 
provided by crash event recorders would enable investigators to develop 
a significantly better understanding of how and why crashes occur. This 
information could then be used in a variety of ways to improve motor 
vehicle safety, e.g., the information could be used to improve vehicle 
designs, improve safety standards, and develop improved public 
education campaigns.
    A more immediate safety benefit can occur if the occurrence of a 
crash is immediately and automatically communicated to local emergency 
services, thereby shortening the response time of the correct emergency 
services. NHTSA's Office of Vehicle Safety Research is currently 
testing, in the Buffalo, New York area, an Automated Collision 
Notification system that uses single point electronic crash sensors, a 
global positioning system receiver and a cellular phone to facilitate 
emergency services dispatch. This program has been the subject of 
recent press articles, copies of which are being placed in the docket.
    The agency notes that on June 10, 1997, the National Transportation 
Safety Board (NTSB) adopted a series of recommendations concerning air 
bag safety and occupant restraint use which, among other things, called 
on NHTSA and the vehicle manufacturers ``to develop and implement * * * 
a plan to gather better information on crash pulses and other crash 
parameters in actual crashes, utilizing current or augmented crash 
sensing and recording devices.'' The recommendations followed a public 
forum convened by the NTSB in March 1997.
    Also, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in its April 1998 Advanced Air 
Bag Technology Assessment, included a recommendation that NHTSA study 
the feasibility of installing and obtaining crash data for safety 
analyses from crash recorders on vehicles.
    The auto industry is already beginning to voluntarily install crash 
event recorders on some vehicles. For example, General Motors (GM) has 
had crash event recorders on some of its vehicles for several years and 
is planning to install more advanced systems in the future. NHTSA notes 
that, as part of a recent investigation carried out by its Special 
Crash Investigations program, it was able to use information obtained 
from a GM vehicle equipped with a crash event recorder.
    Persons who are interested in knowing more about GM's program for 
crash event recorders may wish to read a recent article on that subject 
that was published in the Detroit News. The agency is placing a copy of 
that article in the docket. Also, at the agency's invitation, GM made a 
presentation concerning its crash event recorders at NHTSA's September 
17, 1998 quarterly meeting held to answer questions from the public and 
the regulated industries regarding the agency's vehicle regulatory and 
research program. Information presented by GM at this meeting is being 
placed in the docket.
    While NHTSA believes that crash event recorders have the potential 
to provide valuable information for its vehicle regulatory program, the 
agency believes that a rulemaking to require such recorders is not now 
appropriate. First, as discussed above, the industry is already moving 
to voluntarily provide such recorders. Second, as the development and 
installation of these recorders, and decisions about what data should 
be recorded and how they should be retrieved, are in their infancy, 
NHTSA believes it is premature to consider regulating such devices. 
Given this context, such a rulemaking would not appear to be a good use 
of limited agency resources.
    Moreover, there are a variety of issues related to the 
implementation of crash event recorders that may be better addressed, 
at least initially, outside the rulemaking context. In addition to 
deciding what specific crash data to record, other issues include, 
among other things, possible standardization of the means for 
retrieving the data, access to the data by the agency and crash 
investigators, and privacy issues.
    The agency notes that the means for retrieving data from crash 
event recorders is currently proprietary. This means that the 
involvement of the vehicle manufacturer is necessary to retrieve the 
data. NHTSA has not had any difficulty obtaining cooperation from 
vehicle manufacturers to obtain data from crash event recorders. While 
the retrieval of such data would be facilitated if the means for 
retrieving it were standardized, a number of issues may need to be 
addressed in order to achieve such standardization, e.g., analysis of 
available alternative means for retrieval and consideration of privacy 
and related issues.
    NHTSA introduced the topic of crash event recorders (these devices 
are also called event data recorders or EDRs) for action to the Motor 
Vehicle Safety Research Advisory Committee (MVSRAC) during its April 
29, 1998 meeting. MVSRAC consists of 16 members representing 
governments, industry, academia, the medical community and public 
interest groups and functions to advise NHTSA about complex technical 
topics. MVSRAC approved setting up a working group on EDRs under the 
Crashworthiness Subcommittee. The agency solicited names from the full 
committee and subcommittee for nomination to work on the working group. 
The first meeting of the working group took place in October, and 
others are planned for next year.
    NHTSA believes that the approach of relying on the efforts of 
individual manufacturers to voluntarily introduce crash event 
recorders, coupled by the work of the MVSRAC working group on this 
subject, is the best way to proceed at this time. The involvement of 
the MVSRAC working group will ensure that issues relating to the 
implementation and use of crash event recorders receive the attention 
of a wide variety of experts, and that the agency obtains the benefit 
of hearing the views of those experts. Moreover, NHTSA will ensure that 
MVSRAC considers topics of particular interest to the agency, including 
access to the data by the agency.
    For the reasons discussed above, the agency is denying Mr. 
Bingham's petition for rulemaking.

    Authority: 49 U.S.C. 30162; delegations of authority at 49 CFR 
1.50 and 501.8.

    Issued on: November 3, 1998.
James R. Hackney,
Acting Associate Administrator for Safety Performance Standards.
[FR Doc. 98-29922 Filed 11-6-98; 8:45 am]
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