Denial of Petition for Rulemaking; Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards

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This document denies petitions for rulemaking submitted by the Automobile Safety Foundation (ASF). ASF believes that steering locks installed on some vehicles to comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 114, Theft Protection, are ineffective in preventing theft and also dangerous because they lock up while the vehicle is in motion. Among other things, the petitions requested that NHTSA either revise the standard to prohibit any form of steering locks and allow for alternative designs, or require another design. They also asked that NHTSA require manufacturers to affix warning stickers about the steering locks on new vehicles or send warning stickers to all registered owners of previously sold vehicles. NHTSA denies these petitions because: Available crash data do not demonstrate a safety problem with the steering lock; steering locks continue to serve an anti-theft purpose; and vehicles with automatic transmissions, which account for about 80 percent of vehicles sold, are required to have a transmission lock and to be designed so that the ignition key cannot be removed unless the transmission is in the ``park'' position.