Rule2025-12311
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 213a; Child Restraint Systems-Side Impact Protection; Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 213; Child Restraint Systems, Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 213b; Child Restraint Systems
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
July 2, 2025
Effective
June 30, 2025
Issuing agencies
Transportation DepartmentNational Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Abstract
This notice announces that NHTSA will not take enforcement action against regulated entities for failing to comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 213a, Child restraint systems--side impact protection until the publication of any final rule finalizing NHTSA's May 30, 2025 proposal.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 125 (Wednesday, July 2, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 125 (Wednesday, July 2, 2025)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 28909-28910]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-12311]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
49 CFR Parts 571 and 572
[Docket No. NHTSA-2025-0046]
RIN 2127-AM62
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 213a; Child Restraint
Systems--Side Impact Protection; Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard
No. 213; Child Restraint Systems, Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard
No. 213b; Child Restraint Systems
AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
Department of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Notice of enforcement discretion.
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SUMMARY: This notice announces that NHTSA will not take enforcement
action against regulated entities for failing to comply with Federal
Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 213a, Child restraint
systems--side impact protection until the publication of any final rule
finalizing NHTSA's May 30, 2025 proposal.
DATES: This notice of enforcement discretion is effective from June 30,
2025, until the date of publication of any rule finalizing NHTSA's May
30, 2025 proposal.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For technical issues, you may contact
Cristina Echemendia, Office of Crashworthiness Standards (email:
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#b4f7c6ddc7c0dddad59af1d7dcd1d9d1dad0ddd5f4d0dbc09ad3dbc2"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="5211203b21263b3c337c17313a373f373c363b3312363d267c353d24">[email protected]</span></a>). For legal issues, you may contact John
Piazza, Office of Chief Counsel (email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#8fc5e0e7e1a1dfe6eef5f5eecfebe0fba1e8e0f9"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="d79db8bfb9f987beb6adadb697b3b8a3f9b0b8a1">[email protected]</span></a>). You can
reach these officials by phone at 202-366-1810. Address: National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S. Department of
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, Washington,
DC 20590.
Electronic Access and Filing: This document, the notice of proposed
rulemaking (NPRM), all comments received, and all background material
may be viewed online at <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a> using the docket number
listed above. Electronic retrieval help and guidelines are available on
the website. An electronic copy of this document may also be downloaded
from the Office of the Federal Register's website at
<a href="http://www.federalregister.gov">www.federalregister.gov</a> and the Government Publishing Office's website
at <a href="http://www.Govinfo.gov">www.Govinfo.gov</a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On June 30, 2022, NHTSA published a new side impact standard, FMVSS
No. 213a, ``Child restraint systems--side impact protection.'' \1\
NHTSA set a compliance date of June 30, 2025, when issuing this
standard. On May 30, 2025, NHTSA published a notice of proposed
rulemaking (NPRM) to amend the agency's safety standards for child
restraint systems (CRSs), including FMVSS No. 213a.\2\ The comment
period for the NPRM closes on June 30, 2025.
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\1\ 87 FR 39234.
\2\ 90 FR 23009.
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The NPRM included, among other things, two proposals regarding
compliance with the new side impact standard, FMVSS No. 213a; Child
restraint systems--side impact protection. First, NHTSA proposed to
exempt certain CRSs manufactured exclusively for use on school buses
from FMVSS No. 213a. In the NPRM, NHTSA explained that while the side
impact standard currently exempts harnesses and car beds, it does not
currently exempt school bus child restraints that are not harnesses.
NHTSA also proposed to exempt school bus CRSs that are not harnesses
from the standard because it 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. NHTSA also recognized that the side impact crash environment of a
school bus differs significantly from the simulated side impact test in
FMVSS No. 213a.\3\
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\3\ For a more detailed discussion of this and the proposed
amendment to the compliance date discussed below, please see the
NPRM.
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Second, in the NPRM, NHTSA proposed to delay the compliance date
for FMVSS No. 213a from June 30, 2025 to December 5, 2026.\4\ In the
proposal, NHTSA considered this delay warranted for several reasons.
The side impact standard is new and broadly applicable, meaning CRS
manufacturers must certify most, if not all, of their products to a
variety of new requirements. The agency understands this takes a
significant amount of testing for research, development, and
certification. Such increased demand limits some manufacturers' access
to test facilities, further complicating their ability to prepare to
certify to a new standard.
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\4\ The proposed revised compliance date of December 5, 2026,
would coincide with the compliance date for the FMVSS No. 213b
companion upgrade of the CRS standards.
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In the proposal, NHTSA considered the new standard still capable of
significant safety benefits in the long term, but the near-term
inability of some manufacturers to complete the development of
compliant seats in time could create new safety problems by reducing
the availability of new CRSs. Information received from some CRS
manufacturers and other stakeholders, such as in comments received thus
far to the NPRM and in a petition for reconsideration that predated the
NPRM, indicate that the current compliance date of June 30, 2025 will
likely reduce the availability of new CRSs in the market. This is
because some manufacturers may have no option other than to cease
manufacturing CRSs because they cannot comply with the side impact
standard by June 30, 2025.
In the proposal, NHTSA expressed concern about the overall safety
effects if some consumers lose access to these safety devices in the
future due to limits on the availability of new CRSs. The safety
consequences of reduced
[[Page 28910]]
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. Moreover, for school bus CRSs, the current compliance date may
result in requirements being imposed for a short period of time, given
that the agency is engaged in a rulemaking proceeding that proposes to
exempt those devices from the standard.
Statement of Temporary Enforcement Policy
NHTSA recognizes that because the date on which the comment period
closes is the same as the compliance date for FMVSS No. 213a, it will
not be possible to publish a final rule prior to the current compliance
date. NHTSA is concerned that the regulatory uncertainty likely to
arise for the period of time in between the June 30 compliance date and
any published final rule will lead to a decrease in overall levels of
CRS safety as fewer CRS options are available for the public.
Considering these factors and the information available to NHTSA at
this time, NHTSA believes that the public interest would be best served
by NHTSA exercising its discretion to temporarily pause enforcement of
the applicability of FMVSS No. 213a for CRSs produced on or after June
30, 2025, and until the date of publication of any rule finalizing
NHTSA's May 30, 2025 proposal. NHTSA emphasizes, 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 in a material respect. 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. Similarly, manufacturers should not market or otherwise
describe their products as meeting FMVSS No. 213a unless they are
certifying to the standard. This pause affects only whether a CRS must
be certified to FMVSS No. 213a, and NHTSA intends to continue
enforcement of certification to FMVSS No. 213 and FMVSS No. 213b.
The exercise of enforcement discretion herein creates no individual
right of action and is not intended to bind NHTSA or otherwise
establish precedent for future determinations. This temporary policy is
based on the information currently before the agency. The comment
period on the NPRM remains open until June 30, 2025, and 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.
Issued in Washington, DC, under authority delegated in 49 CFR
1.95, 501.4, and 501.5.
Peter Simshauser,
Chief Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2025-12311 Filed 7-1-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE P
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