On July 29, 2011 the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Department of Transportation (DOT), published a Final Rule (Vol. 76, Number 146 Docket No. NHTSA-2010-0025) which amended 49CFR Part 575 - Consumer Information by adding and clarifying safety information appearing on the Monroney label. This activity is part of the larger effort to improve consumer understanding of safety and environmental information for new car buyers. (Reference: NHTSA and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also published a Final Rule modifying the fuel economy and environmental impact information in Part 575 (Vol. 76, Number 129 Docket No. NHTSA-2010-0087; July 6, 2011.)
Since September 2007, new passenger vehicles have been required to be labeled with safety rating information published by the NHTSA under NCAP. On March 9, 2010, the NHTSA published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to amend Part 575 Consumer Information to upgrade the vehicle label to reflect the enhanced NCAP ratings program (Vol.75, Number 45; Docket No. NHTSA-2010-0025). NHTSA enhanced the NCAP ratings program to include, among other things, the incorporation of an overall vehicle score that is derived from the vehicle's frontal crash, side crash, and rollover resistance.
This Final Rule adopts the provisions of the NPRM (see April 2010 Spotlight Article) with the following modifications:
- The following text, "Safety concern: Visit http://www.safercar.gov or call 1-888-327-4236 for more details" (preceded by the safety concern symbol depicted in figure 4 to § 575.302 and ending with a period) is only required in the overall vehicle score area of the label. This reduces space required where a vehicle receives a safety concern in more than one crash test area.
- The adopted language states that frontal crash ratings and the overall vehicle score should only be compared to other vehicles of ''similar size and weight,'' rather than of ''similar weight class.''
- To minimize consumer confusion at the point of sale, the agency believes that it is critical that the Final Rule for the safety rating label be published in time for placement of the revised safety rating label on model year 2012 vehicles. The agency is postponing the consumer research testing of the entire Monroney label because they believe that it will be more effective if the fuel economy/greenhouse gas emissions portion and the safety rating portion of the Monroney label are both finalized first.
- The agency has slightly modified explanatory language that will be required in the side crash area of the safety rating label to make clear that the ratings reflect risks involved in a real world side impact crash, rather than risks associated with the two crash tests that are used to determine the side crash ratings.
- The Final Rule extends the compliance date of the revised safety rating labels from September 1, 2010 to January 31, 2012 for the model year 2012 and beyond. This is being changed to provide sufficient lead time for vehicle manufacturers to prepare for the implementation of the revised labels. Passenger vehicles manufactured on or after January 31, 2012 will be required to have the new safety rating label. Early compliance will be permitted for model year 2012 vehicles that are manufactured before January 31, 2012, provided that the ratings placed on the safety rating label are derived from vehicle testing conducted by NHTSA under the enhanced NCAP testing and rating program.
This Final Rule is effective August 29, 2011, and any Petitions for Reconsideration must be received by September 12, 2011.