On November 21, 2007, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the Federal Register (Docket No. NHTSA-2007-0014). This rulemaking proposes to upgrade the school bus occupant protection requirements of the FMVSS No. 222, "School Bus Passenger Seating and Crash Protection" and by other amendments to FMVSS No's 207, 208, and 210. It also provides guidance to state and local jurisdictions on the subject of installing seat belts on large school buses with a GVWR greater than 10,000 pounds. This proposal also asks for comments on the agency's consideration of "best practices" concerning the belts on the large buses.
This NPRM's most significant proposed changes to FMVSS No. 222 involve:
- Increasing the minimum seat back height requirement from 20 inches from the seat's seating reference point to 24 inches for all school buses;
- Requiring small school buses to have a lap/shoulder belt at each passenger seating position (the buses are currently required to have lap belts);
- Incorporating test procedures into the standard to test lap/shoulder belts in small school buses and voluntarily-installed lap/shoulder belts in large school buses to ensure both the strength of the anchorages and the compatibility of the seat with compartmentalization; and,
- Requiring all school buses with seat bottom cushions that are designed to flip-up, typically for easy cleaning, to have a self-latching mechanism.
The Agency is requesting interested parties to submit comments on these proposals by January 22, 2008.