[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 142 (Thursday, July 24, 2003)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 43899-43900]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-18596]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

49 CFR Part 583

[Docket No. NHTSA 03-15125; Notice 1]
RIN 2127-AA03


Crashworthiness Ratings

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

ACTION: Termination of proposed rulemaking.

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SUMMARY: This document terminates a proposed rulemaking in which we had 
considered establishing a crashworthiness performance ratings program 
for new motor vehicles. Under the contemplated program, for which the 
agency issued a notice of proposed rulemaking in 1981, information 
would have been developed by manufacturers on the ability of their 
vehicles to protect occupants in high speed crashes and made available 
to the public via window stickers on new motor vehicles. The NPRM 
raised the alternative possibility that the agency, instead of the 
manufacturers, would generate the information.
    We are terminating this proposed rulemaking because it has been 
overtaken by events. During the years since 1981, we have continued to 
develop and expand our New Car Assessment Program (NCAP). Under the 
NCAP program, the agency generates the kinds of information that would 
have been provided by the proposed crashworthiness performance ratings 
program. Ratings are available for front and side impact 
crashworthiness. They are also now available for rollover resistance. 
Additional ratings are under development for dynamic rollover, braking 
and lighting.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The following persons at the National 
Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 400 Seventh Street, SW., 
Washington, DC, 20590:
    For technical issues: Mary Versailles, Office of Rulemaking, 
telephone (202) 366-2057.
    For legal issues: Edward Glancy, Office of the Chief Counsel, 
telephone (202) 366-2992.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On January 22, 1981, we published (46 FR 
7025) a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to establish a new vehicle 
crashworthiness performance ratings program. We already had a 
regulation requiring that consumers be provided with crash avoidance 
information, e.g., braking performance, but did not have any comparable 
measures for providing crashworthiness information. The idea underlying 
the proposal was to supplement the agency's minimum crashworthiness 
standards with a program using market forces to encourage the 
manufacture of safer automobiles. It was anticipated that the 
information would not only aid consumers in making better informed 
purchasing decisions, but also competition among automobile 
manufacturers in the design of safer products. We noted several studies 
indicating that consumers were significantly interested in vehicle 
crashworthiness performance and that their purchasing decisions would 
be influenced by information about the performance of different models.
    Under the contemplated program, information would have been 
developed by manufacturers on the ability of their new vehicles to 
protect occupants in high-speed crashes and made available to the 
public via window stickers. The primary element of the proposed 
regulation was to be a requirement for manufacturers to disclose to 
prospective purchasers whether or not their vehicles conform to the 
belted occupant protection criteria of Standard No. 208, Occupant Crash 
Protection, when tested under the frontal fixed rigid barrier crash 
procedures of that safety standard, but at a speed of 35 mph instead of 
the 30 mph speed specified in the standard.
    Since publishing the NPRM for crashworthiness ratings in 1981, we 
have retained an entry for this rulemaking in the Regulatory Agenda. 
However, this rulemaking has long been overtaken by events.
    Since 1981, we have significantly developed and expanded our New 
Car Assessment Program (NCAP). As part of this program, the agency, not 
the manufacturers, annually subjects selected cars, light trucks, sport 
utility vehicles, and vans to frontal and side crash tests, with 
particular focus on models that are new, popular, redesigned, or have 
improved safety equipment. These vehicles are then rated on how well 
they protect drivers and passengers during those frontal and side 
collisions. We use a five star system for rating vehicles. We provide 
the ratings to the public through a variety of means, including press 
releases, the NHTSA website, and an annual publication titled ``Buying 
a Safer Car.'' That publication provides the public with a variety of 
valuable information on crash tests, safety features and buying tips.
    Through the expanded NCAP program, we are accomplishing the goals 
we sought in proposing the crashworthiness performance ratings program. 
Our monitoring of test scores and ratings from year to year indicates 
that the manufacturers do modify their vehicles in response to the NCAP 
ratings and sometimes prominently feature those ratings in their 
advertising.
    During the 1990's, we expanded our Regulatory Agenda entry for the 
crashworthiness ratings rulemaking to include a discussion of our 
publication of a request for comments summarizing a 1996 study by the 
National Academy of Sciences (NAS) titled ``Shopping for Safety--
Providing Consumer Automotive Safety Information.'' (62 FR 27648, May 
20, 1997.) The NAS study made a number of recommendations to NHTSA on 
ways to improve automobile safety information for consumers. Our 1997 
notice requested comments on our response to the recommendations of the 
NAS study and on programs we had begun or were considering to address 
those recommendations.
    For the long term, the NAS study recommended the development of an 
overall measure combining the relative

[[Page 43900]]

importance of crashworthiness \1\ and crash avoidance \2\ features for 
a vehicle. The study recognized that, for the foreseeable future, 
summary measures of crashworthiness and crash avoidance must be 
presented separately due to differences in current levels of knowledge, 
and differences in the roles of vehicle and driver in the two areas. 
For the immediate future, the NAS study recommended that the agency 
develop a summary measure of a vehicle's crashworthiness that 
incorporates quantitative information supplemented with the 
professional judgment of automotive experts, statisticians, and 
decision analysts. According to the recommendation, NHTSA should 
provide information with this measure to reflect the range of 
uncertainty in those judgments. For crash avoidance, the study 
recommended the development of a checklist of features for the near 
future.
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    \1\ Crashworthiness refers to a vehicle's ability to protect 
occupants from serious injury or death when a crash occurs.
    \2\ Crash avoidance refers to a vehicle's ability to prevent a 
crash from occurring.
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    In our 1997 Request for Comments, we said we would study the 
possibility of combining frontal NCAP and side impact NCAP ratings into 
a single rating, as a first step toward a summary crashworthiness 
rating. We requested comments on a number of possible approaches to 
exploring the NAS study recommendation that a comprehensive 
crashworthiness rating be developed. These approaches included:
    [sbull] A Federal Advisory Committee to develop a method that the 
agency or others could use to ``rate'' new vehicles. Such method would 
indicate what quantitative information should be used (both from NHTSA 
and from other sources), how such information should be combined, and 
how such information would be supplemented with expert judgement.
    [sbull] A negotiated rulemaking under which NHTSA would agree to 
propose a new consumer information regulation.
    [sbull] Development of a standard means by which manufacturers 
would establish the degree to which a specific vehicle make/model 
exceeded the minimum requirements in the safety standards.

    We also indicated that we believed the development of some 
comparative crash avoidance information was possible.
    Commenters on the 1997 Request for Comments indicated little 
support for combining the frontal NCAP and side impact NCAP scores into 
a single rating. They expressed concerns about the compatibility of the 
two ratings programs, since frontal NCAP scores cannot be combined 
across weight classes, while side impact NCAP scores can. As a result, 
we did not pursue this option any further.
    Commenters also expressed concern about other aspects of the NAS 
study recommendation for a summary rating. In particular, commenters 
generally did not support the use of expert judgment to supplement gaps 
in available quantitative information.
    Since the publication of the 1997 Request for Comments, we have 
greatly expanded the scope of information that consumers can use to 
evaluate the relative safety of new vehicles. Ratings are available for 
not only front and side impact crashworthiness, but also rollover 
resistance. Additional ratings are under development for dynamic 
rollover, braking and lighting. Information on safety features in the 
``Buying a Safer Car'' brochure has expanded from four features with 
the first issue to 22 features in the 2002 issue. Information on an 
additional four features is available on NHTSA's website, which has 
been greatly expanded and improved since the 1997 Request for Comments. 
In addition, the brochure and web site provide information on the 
importance of vehicle weight and on the relative rate of occurrence of 
front and side crashes to help consumers weigh the relative importance 
of the available information without a summary rating.
    With the introduction of Rollover Resistance Ratings in 2001, we 
once again began looking at the idea of a summary rating, to see if the 
addition of this quantitative information would address some of the 
commenter concerns from 1997. However, with Congress' mandate to 
conduct research on a dynamic rollover rating to supplement the 
Rollover Resistance Ratings, we decided to postpone beginning work on a 
possible summary rating until after that research was completed. Until 
we finish research on dynamic rollover, braking and lighting, we will 
not return to consideration of a summary rating.
    While we may develop a summary rating in the future, it will not be 
in the context of the 1981 proposal. Any summary rating that might be 
developed would be vastly different than what would have been done 
under that proposal. First, it would likely include consideration of 
factors beyond crash protection. Second, such a rating would be 
developed and distributed by NHTSA rather than by vehicle 
manufacturers. Consumer research conducted over the years indicates 
that consumers are more likely to take into consideration safety 
information provided by a neutral party, with the government being 
regarded as a source that is unbiased and trustworthy.
    For all of the reasons discussed above, we are terminating the 1981 
proposed rulemaking for a vehicle crashworthiness performance ratings 
program.

    Issued: July 11, 2003.
Stephen R. Kratzke,
Associate Administrator for Rulemaking.
[FR Doc. 03-18596 Filed 7-23-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P