[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 56 (Wednesday, March 24, 1999)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 14207-14209]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-7172]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
49 CFR Part 571
[Docket No. NHTSA 99-5098]
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Side Impact Protection
AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), DOT.
ACTION: Notice of a public meeting.
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SUMMARY: This document announces that NHTSA will be holding a public
meeting to explore technical issues (including test procedures)
relating to the assessment of potential benefits and risks of
inflatable restraint systems for side crash protection. This meeting is
intended to provide an opportunity for
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the automotive community and interested parties to discuss their
evaluation of the safety performance of these inflatable restraint
systems. The meeting is open to both participants (presenters and
discussants) and observers.
DATES: Public Meeting: A public meeting will be held on April 19, 1999,
from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. If you wish to participate in the meeting,
contact Randa Radwan Samaha, at the address, telephone, or e-mail
listed below, by April 7, 1999. If you wish to present a prepared oral
statement during the meeting, please provide a copy of your statement
to Ms. Samaha by April 12, 1999.
Written Comments: If you wish to submit written comments to the
agency, you must do so in time for the agency to receive your comments
by April 30, 1999.
ADDRESSES: Public Meeting: The public meeting will be held in Room 2230
of the Nassif Building, 400 Seventh St., S.W., Washington, DC 20590.
Written Comments: If you wish to submit written comments on the
issues related to or discussed at this meeting, mention Docket No.
NHTSA 99-5098 in your comments, and submit them to: Docket Management,
Room PL-401, 400 Seventh Street, S.W., Washington, DC 20590 (Docket
hours are from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For non-legal issues: Randa Radwan
Samaha, Office of Vehicle Safety Research, NRD-11, 400 Seventh Street,
S.W., Washington, DC 20590 (telephone 202-366-4707; fax 202-366-5670,
[email protected]).
For legal issues: Edward Glancy, Office of Chief Counsel, NCC-20,
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 400 Seventh Street,
S.W., Washington, DC 20590 (telephone 202-366-2992; fax 202-366-3820).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
A. Background
Several types of inflatable restraint systems (IRS) for side crash
protection are rapidly emerging in the U.S. and world markets. The
number of vehicles equipped with these systems is projected to increase
substantially over the next two to three years. About three-quarters of
automakers already offer side-mounted air bags in at least some of
their model year 1999 vehicles. The side IRS vary widely in designs,
sizes, mounting locations and methods, inflation systems, body regions
protected, and areas of coverage. In particular, there are seat and
door mounted air bag systems for thorax protection, seat-mounted air
bag systems for combination thorax/head protection, and various
versions of window curtains, an inflatable tubular structure system,
and headrest-mounted air bags for head protection.
Although these systems have been demonstrated to have potential for
superior protection in side crashes, there may be a potential of added
injury risk by the side IRS to out-of-position children and adults.
This potential risk has been examined in exploratory static deployment
testing by vehicle manufacturers, NHTSA, Transport Canada, and other
institutions; discussed in recent communications between the agency and
the automakers; and called attention to in some automakers' news
releases and owner's manuals.
In view of the potential risk, it is necessary to understand the
performance and overall effectiveness of these recently introduced
systems. It is especially necessary to conduct a critical evaluation of
any possible harmful effects and unintended consequences of their
deployment for children and out-of-position occupants. In December
1998, NHTSA sent a letter to twenty-one vehicle manufacturer executives
urging them to personally ensure that their side-mounted air bag
systems are designed to ``do no harm'' to occupants. In a February 1999
public statement, the agency said that, ``Manufacturers have an
obligation to thoroughly and adequately test the safety of any new
technology under real world conditions prior to introduction into the
market place.'' In addition, the agency noted in that statement that it
``has held meetings with industry to better understand system
designs.''
To date, NHTSA has not received any reports of serious or fatal
injuries directly attributable to a side IRS. Both NHTSA and Transport
Canada are currently monitoring the field experience of these systems
in North America. Further, NHTSA is aware of vehicle manufacturers'
efforts to find ways to minimize injury risk to out-of-position
occupants either through the design or location of the side IRS, or by
means of automatic deactivation under certain circumstances (e.g., when
the presence of a child is detected by sensors in the vehicle seat).
Although the side IRS are designed primarily to provide protection
to adult occupants, vehicle manufacturers conduct tests with smaller-
sized dummies to attempt to determine the injury potential to out-of-
position adults and children. Based on recent communications with
vehicle manufacturers, the agency is aware of substantial differences
among vehicle manufacturers in the test procedures and type of testing
performed with child sized and adult dummies, and the levels of the
biomechanical injury criteria considered as acceptable performance.
(The agency notes that much of the information submitted to it by the
manufacturers was provided along with requests that the information be
treated as confidential business information under 5 U.S.C. 552. The
agency has granted those requests.)
B. Public Meeting
In light of the foregoing, the agency is holding a public meeting
to share the real world and test data that are available and explore
technical issues relating to the assessment of potential benefits and
risks of side IRS.
1. Purpose and Issues
The purpose of this meeting is to:
Share real world field and test data on the performance of
side IRS involving both children and adult occupants.
Obtain specific technical comments, discussion, and/or
constructive input related to the test conditions, anthropomorphic
devices, and injury criteria for evaluating the potential benefits and
injury risks of side IRS.
Obtain pertinent technical comments, discussion, and/or
constructive input related to new technologies applicable to side IRS
design and performance.
Provide an opportunity for interested persons to present
other pertinent data relevant to and appropriate for the assessment of
side IRS, e.g., specifications for desirable performance.
Specific issues to be considered and discussed during the meeting
include:
What are the appropriate criteria and their biomechanical
bases for assessing injury risk to out-of-position children and adults?
Specific body regions to be considered include as a minimum the skull/
brain, the neck, the thorax, the upper and lower extremities, and
auditory system.
What and how many appropriate tests should be performed to
determine if the side IRS are safe and providing a safety benefit?
2. Procedural Matters.
A written transcript of the meeting will be made.
To make efficient use of the limited time available for the
meeting, the issues will be addressed in the following order:
1. Available real world field data.
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2. Available test data.
a. IRS Injury Risk
b. IRS Effectiveness
3. Child and adult injury criteria for the skull/brain, neck, torso,
upper and lower extremities, and auditory system.
4. New technologies applicable to side IRS design and performance
(e.g., sensing and suppression).
5. Proposals for test conditions and procedures.
The discussion of each issue will be structured as follows: (1) A
short presentation by NHTSA, (2) Presentations by persons and
organizations who have indicated the desire to present data or share
other information, (3) Presentations of any new or unconsidered data by
interested persons, (4) An open discussion by meeting participants of
the technical merits of the presentations and of potential test
procedures, and (5) A summary statement.
3. Meeting Participation
This is a public meeting and attendance is open to all members of
the public. You may attend as a participant (a presenter or a
discussant) or an observer.
C. Written Comments
To ensure that the agency is fully cognizant of the issues and
positions taken at this meeting, you are encouraged to submit written
comments on the issues related to or discussed at this meeting. Two
copies should be submitted to DOT's Docket Management Office at the
address given at the beginning of this document.
In addition, if your comments are four or more pages in length, we
request, but do not require, that you send 10 additional copies, as
well as one copy on computer disc, to: Randa Radwan Samaha, Office of
Vehicle Safety Research, NRD-11, National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration, 400 Seventh Street, S.W., Washington, DC 20590.
Providing these additional copies would aid the agency in expediting
its review of your comments. The copy on computer disc may be in any
format, although the agency would prefer that it be in WordPerfect 8.
Your comments must not exceed 15 pages in length (49 CFR 553.21).
You may append necessary supplemental material to your comments without
regard to the 15-page limit. This limitation is intended to encourage
you to detail your primary arguments in a concise fashion. This will
aid the agency in understanding your comments.
If you wish to submit certain information under a claim of
confidentiality, you should submit three copies of the complete
submission, including purportedly confidential business information, to
the Chief Counsel, NHTSA, at the street address given above. In
addition, you should submit two copies from which the purportedly
confidential information has been deleted to Docket Management. Your
request for confidentiality should be accompanied by a cover letter
setting forth the information specified in the agency's confidential
business information regulation. 49 CFR Part 512.
Authority: 49 U.S.C. 322, 30111, 30115, 30117, and 30166;
delegation of authority at 49 CFR 1.50.
Issued on: March 17, 1999.
L. Robert Shelton,
Associate Administrator for Safety Performance Standards.
Raymond P. Owings,
Associate Administrator for Research and Development.
[FR Doc. 99-7172 Filed 3-23-99; 8:45 am]
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