The following is a brief summary of the Final Rule published on July 29, 2003 in the Federal Register from the United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) which revises 49 CFR Part 571, FMVSS 301, "Side Impact Protection; Fuel System Integrity."
This Final Rule revises the tire type, size and pressure for use on the moving barriers used for testing to the requirements of Title 49, Part 571, FMVSS 214 & FMVSS 301. NHTSA has granted a petition which has requested that NHTSA revise its outdated specification of bias ply tires for use on moveable barriers with radial ply tires. The petitioner specified that these old bias tires are out of date and hard to procure. Based on test data presented by GM and Ford, tire inflation pressure, rather than tire-type, appears to be a more critical element for various test facilities conducting moving barrier tests. Based on all the comments and the data submitted and since SAE J972 has already incorporated a specification for P205/75R15 radial tires inflated to 207 kPa (30 psi) for use on moving barriers, NHTSA adopts P205/75R15 tires inflated to between 179 kPa and 221 kPa (26 psi - 32 psi) for use on all moving barriers specified in FMVSS Nos. 214 and 301. NHTSA has also eliminated the Tread Width Specifications and the Moments of Inertia Specifications of the moving barriers used for FMVSS 301 in this Final Rule. This Final Rule is effective on September 29, 2003.