[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 27 (Friday, February 8, 2019)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 2804-2806]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-01651]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

49 CFR Part 563

[Docket No. NHTSA-2012-0177]
RIN 2127-AK86


Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Event Data Recorders

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

ACTION: Proposed rule; withdrawal.

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SUMMARY: NHTSA withdraws its December 13, 2012 notice of proposed 
rulemaking (NPRM) that proposed a new Federal motor vehicle safety 
standard (FMVSS) mandating installation of an Event Data Recorder (EDR) 
that meets NHTSA's current EDR standard in most light vehicles. At the 
time NHTSA published the NPRM, the agency noted that a significant 
number of light vehicles were being sold without EDRs, and said it 
believed a mandate was needed. Today, EDRs are installed on nearly all 
new light vehicles. In light of these changed circumstances, NHTSA 
believes that a mandate for today's EDRs is no longer necessary and 
withdrawal of the NPRM is therefore warranted.

DATES: The NPRM ``Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Event Data 
Recorders,'' RIN 2127-AK86, published December 13, 2012 (77 FR 74144), 
is withdrawn as of February 8, 2019.

ADDRESSES: Electronic Access: You can view and download related 
documents and public comments by going to the website https://www.regulations.gov. Enter the docket number NHTSA-2012-0177 in the 
search field.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For technical issues, contact Ms. 
Carla Rush, Office of Crashworthiness Standards, Telephone: 202-366-
4583, Facsimile: 202-493-2739. For legal issues, contact Mr. Daniel 
Koblenz, Office of Chief Counsel, Telephone: 202-366-2992, Facsimile: 
202-366-3820. The mailing address for these officials is: National 
Highway Traffic Safety Administration,

[[Page 2805]]

1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    Event data recorders (EDRs) are an invaluable tool for aiding and 
validating crash reconstruction, investigation, and analysis. An EDR is 
a function or device installed in a motor vehicle to record technical 
information about the status and operation of vehicle systems for a few 
seconds immediately before and during a crash for the primary purpose 
of post-crash assessment.\1\ EDRs are regulated under 49 CFR part 563.
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    \1\ See 49 CFR 563.5.
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    Part 563 was established on August 28, 2006 (71 FR 50998) and 
requires that light vehicles \2\ equipped with EDRs meet certain 
requirements for data elements, data capture and format, data 
retrieval, and data crash survivability. An EDR as defined by Part 563 
is not required to record data such as audio or video recordings and 
does not log commercial operator-associated data, such as hours of 
service.\3\
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    \2\ As used in this notice, ``light vehicles'' includes 
passenger cars, multipurpose passenger vehicles, trucks, and buses 
with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 3,855 kilograms (kg) 
(8,500 pounds) or less and an unloaded vehicle weight of 2,495 kg 
(5,500 pounds) or less, except for walk-in van-type trucks or 
vehicles designed to be sold exclusively to the U.S. Postal Service. 
See 49 CFR part 563.3.
    \3\ 49 CFR 563.5.
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    The requirements of Part 563 apply only to those light vehicles 
that are voluntarily equipped with EDRs that were manufactured on or 
after September 1, 2012. In the 2006 rulemaking, NHTSA chose not to 
mandate installation of EDRs in order to encourage voluntary 
development and installation, while alleviating costs on manufacturers 
and consumers. The agency stated at the time that the ``marketplace 
appears to be adopting EDRs and we do not currently see a need to 
mandate their installation.'' \4\
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    \4\ 71 FR 50998, 51011 (Aug. 28, 2006).
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The NPRM

    On December 13, 2012, NHTSA published a notice of proposed 
rulemaking (NPRM) proposing to convert Part 563's ``if-installed'' 
requirements for EDRs into a new Federal motor vehicle safety standard 
(FMVSS) mandating installation of EDRs in most light vehicles.\5\ The 
NPRM did not propose making any changes to the current EDR regulation's 
performance requirements, including those for the required data 
elements. At the time that NHTSA issued the NPRM, the agency estimated 
that about 92 percent of model year (MY) 2010 light vehicles had some 
EDR capability. NHTSA believed that the universal installation of EDRs 
would improve vehicle safety by aiding the agency in investigating 
potential safety defects and developing new standards. Absent a 
mandate, it appeared that manufacturers of the remaining 8 percent of 
light vehicles would not equip those vehicles with EDRs. Thus, the 
agency believed that a safety need existed to mandate the installation 
of EDRs on light vehicles.
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    \5\ 77 FR 74144 (Dec. 13, 2012).
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NHTSA Decision To Withdraw the NPRM

    NHTSA has decided to withdraw the December 2012 NPRM because the 
agency has determined that a mandate is not necessary at this time to 
achieve the nearly universal installation of EDRs on new light 
vehicles. This is because NHTSA's internal analysis shows that, for 
Model Year (MY) 2017, 99.6 percent of new light vehicles sold were 
equipped with EDRs that meet Part 563's requirements. Given the near-
universal installation of EDRs in light vehicles, NHTSA no longer 
believes that the safety benefits of mandating EDRs justifies the 
expenditure of limited agency resources.
    Because NHTSA has determined not to move forward with a mandate for 
EDRs at this time, the agency is withdrawing the December 2012 NPRM 
from consideration. However, the agency will continue its other efforts 
to modernize and improve EDRs regulations, including fulfilling the 
agency's statutory mandate to promulgate regulations establishing an 
appropriate recording duration for EDR data to ``provide accident 
investigators with vehicle-related information pertinent to crashes 
involving such motor vehicles.'' \6\ In addition, NHTSA is actively 
investigating whether the agency should consider revising the data 
elements covered by Part 563 to account for advanced safety features.
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    \6\ See the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act 
Public Law 114-94 (Dec. 4, 2015), Section 24303.
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Note on Comments on the NPRM

    While NHTSA's decision to withdraw the NPRM was made for reasons 
unrelated to the issues raised by commenters, the agency believes it 
would be beneficial to the public to briefly describe and explain the 
agency's views on some key concerns due to the large number of comments 
received on them.
    In response to the December 2012 NPRM, NHTSA received over 1,000 
comments from a wide variety of commenters, including trade 
associations, vehicle manufacturers, safety and privacy advocacy 
groups, equipment suppliers, standards development organizations, crash 
reconstructionists, attorney organizations, and over 950 individuals. 
Safety advocacy organizations, crash reconstructionists, and several 
other commenting organizations generally supported mandating the 
installation of EDRs, citing the importance of the information for 
vehicle safety. Vehicle manufacturers, equipment suppliers, and some 
crash reconstructionists, were supportive of the idea of requiring 
EDRs, but opposed placing the mandate and associated EDR requirements 
in a FMVSS. In addition, a number of individuals also supported the 
mandate, though many indicated that their support was conditional on 
the adoption of provisions to protect the privacy of individuals. Other 
commenters urged NHTSA to expand the list of required data elements in 
order to better support traffic safety research and thus, improve the 
safety of motor vehicles.
    The majority of comments raised a variety of privacy concerns 
associated with EDRs and the data they record. Many commenters seemed 
to believe that Part 563 requires EDRs to extensively record 
potentially sensitive driver-related information, such as vehicle 
location or driving behavior, on an ongoing basis. This belief was 
incorrect. The agency recognizes the importance of privacy to consumer 
acceptance of technology and that the agency has a legal obligation to 
assess and be transparent about the impacts of Federal activities on 
individual privacy.\7\ Part 563 requires only that EDRs capture a 
narrow set of data elements that are designed to assist investigators 
with the reconstruction of crashes, such as data relating to the 
operational status of the vehicle at the time of the crash.\8\ 
Moreover, Part 563 requires that EDRs capture this data to the device 
or function only for the few seconds leading up to a rare event, the 
deployment of air bags, (i.e., not on an ongoing basis).
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    \7\ See E-Government Act of 2002, Public Law 107-347, 208, 116 
Stat. 2899, 2921-23; Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005, Public 
Law 108-447, Sec.  522, 118 Stat. 2809, 3268-69.
    \8\ 49 CFR 563, Tables I & II.
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    Second, many commenters expressed concerns with regard to who owns 
EDR data, who has access to EDR data and under what circumstances, and 
the purposes for which it may be used. NHTSA believes that Congress 
resolved many of these concerns when it enacted

[[Page 2806]]

the Driver Privacy Act of 2015 (DPA), part of the Fixing America's 
Surface Transportation (FAST) Act,\9\ which addresses issues of EDR 
data ownership and access. Specifically, the DPA states that EDR data 
are the ``property of the owner, or, in the case of a leased vehicle, 
the lessee of the motor vehicle in which the event data recorder is 
installed.'' \10\ It also specifies that data recorded or transmitted 
by an EDR is accessible only to the vehicle owner or lessee, unless 
access falls into one of several enumerated exceptions.\11\
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    \9\ Public Law 114-94, Sec. Sec.  24301-24302, 129 Stat. 1312, 
1713-14 (2015).
    \10\ Id.
    \11\ See id.
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    Finally, many of the privacy-related comments requested that NHTSA 
mandate consumer notification of the existence of EDRs. NHTSA agrees 
with commenters that ensuring consumer awareness is an important goal. 
A vital tool the agency uses to inform consumers about the existence 
and function of various aspects of motor vehicles, including the 
existence of and function of EDRs, is the owner's manual that 
accompanies motor vehicles sold in the U.S. Part 563 currently requires 
that vehicle manufacturers that choose to equip their vehicles with 
EDRs include a standardized statement in the owner's manual indicating 
that the vehicle is equipped with an EDR and describing the functions 
and capabilities of the EDR.\12\
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    \12\ 49 CFR 563.11.

    Issued on February 5, 2019 in Washington, DC, under authority 
delegated in 49 CFR 1.95 and 501.5.
Heidi Renate King,
Deputy Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2019-01651 Filed 2-7-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4910-59-P