Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Compressed Natural Gas Vehicles Laboratory Test Procedure

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On April 25, 1994, NHTSA published a final rule establishing a new Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 303, ``Fuel System Integrity of Compressed Natural Gas Vehicles,'' that specifies vehicle performance requirements for the fuel system of [[Page 22432]] vehicles fueled by compressed natural gas (59 FR 19648). The standard enhances the fuel system integrity of compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles by subjecting the vehicles to crash testing and placing a limit on the post-crash pressure drop in the fuel system. The standard specifies frontal, rear, and lateral barrier crash tests for light vehicles and a moving contoured barrier crash test for school buses with a GVWR over 10,000 pounds. NHTSA anticipates contracting with laboratories to obtain test data to determine whether particular motor vehicles comply with the CNG fuel system integrity requirements, just as it does with the agency's other standards. The agency has prepared a draft Laboratory Test Procedure for possible use by contractors in testing vehicles for compliance with the CNG fuel system integrity requirements. Because of the complexity of and public interest in issues associated with the test procedure, NHTSA