The following is a brief summary of the Final Rule published on June 24th in the Federal Register from the United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) which revises 49 CFR Part 571, FMVSS 213 CHILD RESTRAINT SYSTEMS.
This Final Rule revises the performance requirements for add-on Child Restraint Systems. The revisions incorporate four new elements into the standard:
- An updated bench seat used to dynamically test add-on child restraint systems;
- A sled pulse that provides a wider test corridor;
- Improved child test dummies; and
- Expanded applicability to child restraint systems recommended for use by children weighing up to 65 pounds.
The amendments to FMVSS 213 made in this Final Rule are effective December 22, 2003. NHTSA states that these revisions strengthen the technical underpinnings of the standard and this ensures that a firmer foundation is laid for possible technical improvements in the future such that child restraints will be tested using the most advanced test dummies available today and tested to conditions representing current model vehicles.
This final rule does not adopt side impact protection requirements at this time. The agency has decided that the amount of effort needed to develop and validate a side impact component for incorporation into FMVSS 213 far exceeds what could be accomplished within the time constraints of the TREAD Act.
Also this Final Rule does not adopt the scaled injury criteria developed for the occupant protection standard (FMVSS No. 208), except that the time interval used to calculate the head injury criterion is amended from an unlimited time interval to 36 milliseconds.
NHTSA states that this final rule fulfills the mandate in the Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability and Documentation Act (the TREAD Act) to initiate a rulemaking for the purpose of improving the safety of child restraints.