[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 159 (Thursday, August 16, 2001)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 42982-42985]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-20633]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

49 CFR Part 571

[Docket No. NHTSA-2001-10359]


Request for Comments To Obtain the Views of the Public on the Use 
and Effectiveness of Booster Seats

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

ACTION: Request for Comments.

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SUMMARY: This document requests comments from all interested parties on 
the use and effectiveness of belt positioning boosters (hereafter noted 
as ``booster(s)''), taking into account the advantages and 
disadvantages of belt positioning boosters with adult lap/shoulder 
belts versus adult lap and shoulder belts alone.
    It responds to Section 14(h) of the Transportation Recall 
Enhancement, Accountability, and Documentation (TREAD) Act, which 
mandates that the Secretary of Transportation initiate and complete a 
study, taking into account the views of the public, on the use and 
effectiveness of automobile booster seats for children, compiling 
information on the advantages and disadvantages of using booster seats 
and determining the benefits, if any, to children from the use of 
boosters with lap and shoulder belts compared to children using lap and 
shoulder belts alone, and submit a report on the results of that study 
to the Congress by November 1, 2001.
    We anticipate that your comments will provide valuable insight as 
to the public views and perception of booster seats, specifically belt 
positioning booster seats.

DATES: Written Comments: Written comments must be submitted for public 
viewing and received at Docket Management at the address below no later 
than September 17, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Written Comments: Submit written comments to the DOT Docket 
Management System, U.S. Department of Transportation, PL 401, 400 
Seventh Street, SW, Washington, DC 20590-0001. Comments should refer to 
the Docket Number (NHTSA-2001-10359) and be submitted in two copies. If 
you wish to receive confirmation of receipt of your written comments, 
please include a self-addressed, stamped postcard.
    Comments may also be submitted to the Docket electronically by 
logging onto the DOT Docket Management System Web site at http://dms.dot.gov. Click on ``Help & Information'' to obtain instructions for 
filing comments electronically. In every case, the comments should 
refer to the Docket Number.
    Claim of Confidentiality for Written Comments: See below, How Do I 
Submit Confidential Business Information?

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Linda McCray, Office of Vehicle Safety 
Research, NRD-11, NHTSA, 400 Seventh Street, SW, Washington, DC 20590 
(telephone 202-366-6375, Fax: 202-366-7237, E-mail 
[email protected]).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This document requests comments from all 
interested parties on the use and effectiveness of belt positioning 
boosters (hereafter noted as ``booster(s)''), taking into account the 
advantages and disadvantages of belt positioning boosters with adult 
lap/shoulder belts versus adult lap and shoulder belts alone.
    On November 1, 2000, the Transportation Recall Enhancement, 
Accountability, and Documentation (TREAD) Act, Public Law 106-414 (114 
Stat. 1800), was enacted which contains provisions on improving the 
performance of child restraints. In Section 14(h), Improving the Safety 
of Child Restraints--Booster Seat Study, the TREAD Act mandates that 
the Secretary of Transportation initiate and complete a study, taking 
into account the views of the public, on use and effectiveness of 
automobile booster seats for children, compiling information on the 
advantages and disadvantages of using booster seats and determining the 
benefits, if any, to children from use of boosters with lap and 
shoulder belts compared to children using lap and shoulder belts alone, 
and submit a report on the results of that study to the Congress by 
November 1, 2001. We anticipate that your comments will provide some 
insight as to the public views and perception of booster seats, 
specifically belt positioning booster seats.
    Traffic crashes are the leading cause of death to children of every 
age from 5 to 16 years old. Six of 10 children who die in passenger 
motor vehicle crashes are either not restrained at all or are 
improperly restrained. In addition, children are being moved into adult 
safety belts too soon. A child is presumed ready to graduate from a 
booster seat to an adult lap/shoulder belt when the child can firmly 
place his/her back against the vehicle seat back cushion with his/her 
knees naturally bent over the front of the vehicle pad with feet firmly 
placed on the vehicle floor. This typically occurs when a child is 
about 4 feet 9 inches tall. For children from 4- to 8-years old, belt 
positioning booster seats, properly used, can help prevent injury by 
improving the fit of adult-sized safety belts fit. Unfortunately, few 
children who could benefit from booster seats actually use them. Most 
studies indicate that booster seat usage rates are below 10 percent. 
Survey data show that the other children either use safety belts alone 
or ride totally unrestrained.
    In 1998, NHTSA included questions about booster seat use in a 
telephone survey of a randomly selected national sample of about 4,000 
persons age 16 and older. A subgroup of 754 parents or caregivers of 
children under the age of 6, were asked if they were aware of booster 
seats. While 76 percent of these participants said they were aware of 
booster seats, 21 percent said they were unaware of them, and 3 percent 
were unsure. Of those who were aware of booster seats, 53 percent said 
they had used them at some time for their children.

[[Page 42983]]

    The survey confirmed that children who should be in booster seats 
often use safety belts alone instead. While most participants thought 
children in rear-facing seats were expected to move on to other safety 
seats, 14 percent expected their older children to use safety belts. 
Slightly more than half (55 percent) of the parents whose children used 
child safety seats said that when their children outgrew a child seat 
they would use a different seat or booster seat while 43 percent 
answered either that the children would graduate to safety belts alone 
or that they did not know how they would be restrained.
    In spite of the documented effectiveness of safety seats, many 
families still do not use them. Although there are child safety seat 
usage laws in every State and the District of Columbia, most laws do 
not apply to booster seat use. The usage rate is very low for booster 
seats by children who have outgrown their convertible forward-facing 
child safety seats but who do not yet fit adult belts.
    NHTSA is proud of its role as a national leader in promoting child 
passenger safety. During the past several years, government, industry, 
advocates, etc., have pursued various methods to best address the issue 
of proper restraint use for older children--including those that have 
outgrown the convertible/forward-facing child safety seat. In 1998, the 
Blue Ribbon Panel II: Protecting Our Older Child Passengers convened to 
develop better methods to protect children ages 4 through 15 years old. 
In 1999, to address the issue of nonuse of booster seats, NHTSA awarded 
grants totaling $800,000 to six States and communities for pilot and 
demonstration programs to be developed which could be duplicated 
nationally to increase booster seat usage for children ages 4 to 8 
years and to promote safety belt use among older children. Final 
reports from these programs are due at the end of 2001. NHTSA will 
continue to provide funding to State and local agencies to promote the 
use of booster seats and safety belts by older children and will 
develop ``best practices'' strategies and educational materials. In 
February 2000, based on Blue Ribbon Panel II recommendations (see 
http://www.actsinc.org/whatsnew_6.html), NHTSA launched the Don't Skip 
a Step national booster seat campaign to educate parents about the 
risks of improperly positioned adult safety belts and the effectiveness 
of belt-positioning booster seats for children ages 4 to 8 years. The 
agency later introduced 4 Steps for Kids, a campaign to promote the use 
of booster seats for children who have outgrown convertible/forward-
facing child safety seats. On December 7, 2000, The National 
Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) held a meeting/hearing on the 
availability and cost of lap-belt-only booster seats. These types of 
booster seats can be used in vehicle rear seats that are only equipped 
with a lap belt.
    In April 2001, the American Association for Automotive Medicine 
(AAAM) sponsored an international conference, Booster Seats for 
Children: Closing the Gap Between Science and Public Policy, of leading 
child passenger safety experts in medicine, engineering, public policy, 
research and enforcement. A major goal of that conference was to 
develop scientifically based recommendations that would lead to public 
policies, including regulation and legislation, on booster seats and 
that would guide future research in child occupant restraint systems. 
The recommendations can be found at www.carcrash.org/recs.html.
    NHTSA also has been a close partner in the development and 
refinement of the ``Boost America!'' program sponsored by Ford Motor 
Company. This $30 million program, launched on April 30, 2001, will 
give away a million booster seats during the program's first 12 months, 
and award $1 million in grants to local organizations to support 
grassroots booster seat advocacy and distribution efforts. In addition, 
the program will distribute preschool and elementary school educational 
materials promoting booster seat use. The Agency plans to continue 
working with retailers, child safety seat and vehicle manufacturers to 
raise consumer awareness of booster seats. In addition, the Agency has 
sought public input to identify potentially effective interventions to 
address the problem of prematurely moving children from safety seats to 
adult safety belts. As required by Section 14(h) of the TREAD Act, 
NHTSA will develop, by November 2001, a 5-year strategic plan to reduce 
deaths and injuries caused by failure to use the appropriate booster 
seat in the 4- to 8-years old age group by 25 percent. A Federal 
Register Notice (66 FR 30366) related to that initiative, Docket Number 
NHTSA-01-9785, was published on June 6, 2001, to announce a public 
meeting (held on July 10, 2001) and request comments to facilitate the 
development of the plan. The intent of the meeting was to provide the 
sharing of viewpoints, information, and ideas on booster seat usage. 
Among those in attendance were the general public, industry, 
government, and advocacy groups. Topics discussed included, but were 
not limited to, educational programs, program effectiveness and 
evaluation, target audiences, program delivery, challenges, and funding 
sources.
    In an effort to assess the performance of booster seats in real-
world crashes and laboratory tests, the agency is conducting a detailed 
review of crash and test data. Again, the TREAD Act directs the agency 
to consider the public's views on the use, effectiveness, and perceived 
advantages and disadvantages of booster seats, specifically belt 
positioning boosters versus lap/shoulder belts alone. Therefore, NHTSA 
is seeking input from the general public, child safety advocates, child 
passenger safety experts, academia, law enforcement personnel, medical 
experts, and child seat and vehicle manufacturers regarding booster 
seats. Comments should consist of, but are not limited to, results on 
booster seat use, effectiveness, advantages and disadvantages from 
special studies, focus group studies, real-world crash data and 
laboratory tests and results. In addition, we offer the following 
questions for consideration:
    Use: The usage rate for booster seats by children who have outgrown 
their convertible/forward-facing child safety restraints is very low 
(below 10 percent). Survey data show that these children often use 
safety belts alone instead or ride totally unrestrained.
    1. Study results presented at the AAAM booster seat conference 
indicated that booster seat usage rates varied geographically, ranging 
from approximately 6 to 14 percent. These rates are very low. 
Considering the fact that belt positioning boosters have only entered 
the market within the last 5 to 6 years, what are the possible reasons 
that their usage rates are so low? Are there any additional studies of 
booster seat use that were not presented at the AAAM conference?
    2. Are parents confused as to what size/weight children should be 
in booster seats? Are Agency guidelines regarding children 4 to 8 years 
old, 40 to 80 pounds, or less than 57 inches confusing to the parents?
    3. The TREAD Act directs the agency to move forward aggressively to 
educate the public on booster seats in an effort to increase usage. 
Once parents/caregivers are educated, are there adequate varieties of 
booster seats available in the marketplace for the various size 
children and types of vehicle seats? Are there adequate varieties of 
booster seats for various types of safety belt configurations (i.e., 
lap/shoulder versus lap belt only)?

[[Page 42984]]

    4. What are parents' perceptions of booster seats compared to 
convertible/forward-facing child safety seats with regard to ease of 
use, comfort and convenience, safety, acceptance by children and other 
factors?
    5. Are they as safe as convertible/forward-facing child safety 
seats, based on any comparative test and evaluation data?
    Effectiveness: Given that the usage rate of booster seats is so 
low, the Agency has to evaluate the effectiveness of these devices 
based on the information it is able to gather through its own research 
and public comments obtained. To facilitate this task, we offer the 
following points to focus your comments:
    1. The agency does not have enough crash data with booster seats 
available in its files to make a reliable estimate of the effectiveness 
of booster seats at this time. Based on analytical estimates, the 
agency currently believes that belt-positioning booster seats would 
provide children in the 4- to 8-year-old age group about 6 percentage 
points greater effectiveness than lap/shoulder belts provide adults. 
The following is our evaluation of the effectiveness of restraints in 
the back seat using 1988 to 1997 data from the Fatality Analysis 
Reporting System (FARS). The results are quite interesting and open for 
discussion of the effectiveness of belt positioning booster seats.
    Children 5 to 8 years old in the back seat:

Effectiveness of lap belts = 30%
Effectiveness of lap/shoulder belts = 48%

    Children 9 to 14 years old in the back seat:

Effectiveness of lap belts = 41%
Effectiveness of lap/shoulder belts = 54%

    Rear seat occupants 5 to 100 years old in the back seat:

Effectiveness of lap/shoulder belts = 44%

    These data indicate a significant improvement in effectiveness 
between lap belts only and lap/shoulder belts for children in the age 
group of 5 to 8 years. Therefore, if a parent determines that the 
shoulder belt fits properly and places it behind the child's back, the 
result is a lap belt with the lower effectiveness of 30 percent, rather 
than the lap/shoulder belt with 48 percent effectiveness. Is it valid 
to assume that an approximate measure for the effectiveness of a belt 
positioning booster seat would be the difference between the 48 percent 
effectiveness for 5 to 8 year olds in a lap/shoulder belt and the 54 
percent effectiveness for 9 to 14 year olds in a lap/shoulder belt? 
This is based on the assumption that there could be a 6 percentage 
point difference in effectiveness by improving belt fit by using a 
booster seat. That is, boosting the child up improves the fit of the 
lap belt portion and moves the shoulder belt away from the face and 
neck area.
    2. Are there any available data or reports on the effectiveness of 
belt positioning booster seats based on real-world crash data?
    3. What is the perceived effectiveness of belt positioning boosters 
by parents?

Advantages/Disadvantages

    1. For those parents who use--versus those who do not use--booster 
seats, what are some of the perceived advantages and disadvantages of 
belt positioning boosters used with an adult lap/shoulder belt when 
compared to the use of adult lap/shoulder belt alone?
    2. Are there any real-world data and/or laboratory test data to 
support any advantages and/or disadvantages between the two types of 
restraint systems?
    While these questions are not all inclusive in identifying the 
issues raised in this Notice, they provide some insight.
    Again, we anticipate that your comments will provide some insight 
into the public views and perceptions regarding the use of booster 
seats, specifically belt positioning booster seats. Your response to 
this Notice will help the Agency in determining its future course of 
action with respect to child booster seats. Interested persons are 
invited to submit comments on this Notice. All written comments must be 
in English. Comments must not exceed 15 pages in length, but necessary 
attachments may be appended to these submissions without regard to the 
15-page limit (49 CFR 553.21). This limitation is intended to encourage 
commenters to detail their primary arguments in a concise fashion.
    Comments to applicable, related safety recommendations proposed by 
NTSB, AAAM, and Blue Ribbon Panel II are welcomed. Further information 
on booster seats can be obtained by going to the NHTSA Web site at 
www.nhtsa.dot.gov.

How Do I Prepare and Submit Comments?

    Your comments must be written and in English. To ensure that your 
comments are correctly filed in the Docket, the Docket number (NHTSA-
2001-10359) must be included in your comments. Submit all written 
comments to the Docket Management at the above address.

How Can I Be Sure That My Comments Were Received?

    If you wish Docket Management to notify you upon its receipt of 
your comments, enclose a self-addressed, stamped postcard in the 
envelope containing your comments. Upon receiving your comments, Docket 
Management will return the postcard by mail.

How Do I Submit Confidential Business Information?

    If comments contain any materials that are claimed to be 
confidential business information, these materials must be submitted in 
a separate enclosure envelope marked confidential to the Office of 
Chief Counsel, NCC-30, at 400 Seventh Street, SW., Room 5219, 
Washington, DC 20590. In accordance with the provisions of the Agency's 
regulations concerning confidential business information (49 CFR part 
512) commenters should identify the particular portions of their 
submissions for which they claim confidentiality (49 CFR 512.4(a)(2) 
and (3)), and they should stamp or mark the word ``confidential,'' or 
some other term that clearly indicates the presence of information 
claimed to be confidential, on the top of each page that contains 
information claimed to be confidential (49 CFR 512.4(a)(1)). Commenters 
also should include with their submissions a certification stating that 
they (or their representatives) have made a diligent inquiry to 
ascertain that the submitted information has not been disclosed or 
otherwise been made public (49 CFR 512.4(e)) and also information 
supporting their claim for confidential treatment (49 CFR 512.4(b)(3)). 
The supporting information should, among other things, inform the 
agency of the period of time for which confidential treatment is being 
requested (49 CFR 512.4(b)(3)(ix)) and describe the particular harm 
that would result from disclosure (49 CFR 512.4(b)(3)(vi)).
    In addition, if a submission contains information that is claimed 
to be entitled to confidential treatment, commenters should submit 
directly to (Linda McCray at the above address) one copy of the 
submission in its entirety (including the portions claimed to be 
confidential) and also one copy of a ``public version'' of the 
submission, from which portions claimed to be confidential have been 
redacted (49 CFR 512.4(a)(4)).

[[Page 42985]]

Will the Agency Consider Late Comments?

    In our response, we will consider all comments that Docket 
Management receives before the close of business on the comment closing 
date indicated above under DATES. To the extent possible, we will also 
consider comments that Docket Management receives after that date.
    Please note that even after the comment closing date, we will 
continue to file relevant information in the Docket as it becomes 
available. Further, some people may submit late comments. Accordingly, 
we recommend that you periodically check the Docket for new material.

How Can I Read the Comments Submitted by Other People?

    You may read the comments by visiting Docket Management in person 
at Room PL-401, 400 Seventh Street, S.W., Washington, DC, from 9:00 
a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.
    You may also view the comments on the Internet by taking the 
following steps:
    1. Go to the Docket Management System (DMS) Web page of the 
Department of Transportation (http://dms.dot.gov).
    2. On that page, click on ``search.''
    3. On the next page ((http://dms.dot.gov/search/) type in the last 
five digits of the Docket number shown at the beginning of this 
document (i.e., 10359). Click on ``search.''
    4. On the next page, which contains Docket summary information for 
the Docket you selected, click on the desired comments. You may also 
download the comments.

    Authority: 49 U.S.C. 30111, 30117, 30168; delegation of 
authority at 49 CFR 1.50 and 501.8.

    Issued on: August 10, 2001.
Raymond P. Owings,
Associate Administrator for Research and Development.
[FR Doc. 01-20633 Filed 8-15-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P