Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Occupant Crash Protection, Seat Belt Assemblies

Zusammenfassung

In April 2000, NHTSA received a petition for rulemaking requesting that the agency amend its safety standards to require that vehicle manufacturers either offer consumers the option of longer seat belts on new vehicles or make seat belt extenders available for purchase. The purpose of the petition was to accommodate individuals who, because of their size, cannot use the seat belts in the vehicle of their choice. The agency granted the petition on February 28, 2001 and began to gather data on the availability of longer belts and to estimate the underserved population. In August 2002, the agency received a second petition for rulemaking requesting the same amendments. Based on its analysis of available data, NHTSA is terminating rulemaking on the April 2000 petition, and is denying the August 2002 petition for rulemaking.