Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Occupant Crash Protection

Résumé

In September 1998, we proposed to upgrade our air bag requirements for passenger cars and light trucks to meet the twin goals mandated by the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century: improving protection for occupants of all sizes, belted and unbelted, in moderate to high speed crashes; and minimizing the risks posed by air bags to infants, children, and other occupants, especially in low speed crashes. In response to the public comments on our 1998 proposal and to other new information obtained since issuing the proposal, we are issuing a supplemental proposal that updates and refines the amendments under consideration. With respect to the goal of improving protection, we are proposing to adopt one of the following alternative crash tests to evaluate the protection of unbelted occupants in moderate to high speed crashes, i.e., those that are potentially fatal. One alternative is an unbelted rigid barrier test (perpendicular and up to 30 degrees oblique to perpendicular) with a maximum speed to be established in the final rule within the range of 40 to 48 km/h (25 to 30 mph). If we reduce the maximum speed to 40 km/h (25 mph) permanently, we might also increase the maximum s