On July 2, 2025 the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) published a Notice of Enforcement Discretion (NED). The NHTSA published in the Federal Register (Vol. 90 No. 125 [Docket No. NHTSA-2025-0046]) regarding Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 213a Child Restraint Systems - Side Impact Protection; FMVSS 213 Child Restraint Systems; FMVSS 213b Child Restraint Systems a NED announcing that the NHTSA will not take enforcement action against regulated entities for failing to comply with FMVSS 213a Child Restraint Systems - Side Impact Protection until the publication of a Final Rule completing the NHTSA's May 30, 2025 proposal.
On June 30, 2022, the NHTSA published a new side impact standard, FMVSS 213a, ‘Child Restraint Systems - Side Impact Protection’ with a compliance date of June 30, 2025. On May 30, 2025, the NHTSA published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to amend the NHTSA safety standards for child restraint systems (CRSs), including FMVSS 213a. The comment period for the NPRM closed on June 30, 2025. The NPRM included two proposals regarding compliance with the new FMVSS 213a Standard. The NHTSA proposed to exempt certain CRSs manufactured exclusively for use on school buses from FMVSS 213a. The NHTSA also proposed to exempt school bus CRSs that are not harnesses from the standard because the NHTSA tentatively believed that it is not practicable for these CRSs to meet the proposed requirements and because they serve a niche market not currently met by other types of CRSs. The NHTSA also recognised that the side impact crash environment of a school bus differs significantly from the simulated side impact test in FMVSS 213a. Additionally, the NHTSA proposed to delay the compliance date for FMVSS 213a from June 30, 2025 to December 5, 2026. The safety consequences of reduced availability of CRSs can be mitigated if manufacturers have more time to test and certify their applicable products to the side impact standard to ensure currently compliant CRSs remain available on the market.
The NHTSA believes that the public interest would be best served by the NHTSA exercising its discretion to temporarily pause enforcement of the applicability of FMVSS 213a for CRSs produced on or after June 30, 2025, and until the date of publication of any rule finalising NHTSA's May 30, 2025 proposal. The NHTSA emphasises, however, that under 49 U.S.C. 30115(a), a manufacturer may not certify to a standard if, in exercising reasonable care, the manufacturer has reason to know that the certification is false or misleading. As such, even while the enforcement of the applicability of FMVSS No. 213a is paused, if a manufacturer continues to certify to the standard, the manufacturer must have a good faith basis that the CRS meets the standard. This pause affects only whether a CRS must be certified to FMVSS 213a, and the NHTSA intends to continue enforcement of certification to FMVSS 213 and FMVSS 213b. The exercise of enforcement discretion herein creates no individual right of action and is not intended to bind the NHTSA or otherwise establish precedent for future determinations. This NED is effective from June 30, 2025, until the date of publication of any Final Rule completing the NHTSA's May 30, 2025 proposal.
This temporary policy is based on the information currently before the agency. The NHTSA intends to carefully consider all comments received (including any late comments to the extent practicable) before issuing a Final Rule, if appropriate. As such, this temporary policy is intended to address the near-term safety consequences that would otherwise arise before a Final Rule. It does not prejudge the ultimate outcome on any of the issues within the scope of the May 30 NPRM.