Crashworthiness

Child Safety Crashworthiness Research

Child Safety Crashworthiness Research 

A committed research effort in understanding and improving child occupant protection in motor vehicles has been ongoing at NHTSA for many years. A renewed emphasis on child safety is underway as data show that motor vehicle crashes are the primary cause of death for children 4 and older. NHTSA has conducted research on the protection of children in side impact crashes and released a final rule in 2022 for testing CRSs in side impact test configuration (FMSS 213a). Much of that research has focused on the protection offered by child restraint systems (CRS). Additional research efforts are underway investigating the injuries resulting from rear interior components and surfaces to determine whether there is a need to increase the protection of rear-seat occupants.

Since children 12-years-old and younger represent more than half of the rear seat occupant population, NHTSA has also begun conducting research on protecting large children in the rear seat that use booster seats and seat belts. NHTSA is looking more closely at rear seat geometries, seat belt fit and other aspects related to the rear seat environment as applicable to older children.

FMVSS No. 213 - 3D Drawings 

  • June 30, 2022: Final rulemaking for FMVSS 213a released. The 3D drawings of the standard seat assembly for FMVSS No. 213a (Autodesk Inventor, Size 99.4 MB – zipped) December 2021 can be found here. 
  • December 5, 2023: Final rulemaking for FMVSS 213b released. The 3D drawings of the standard seat assembly for FMVSS No. 213b (Autodesk Inventor, Size 38 MB – zipped) March 2023 can be found here.

3D Drawings of the proposed LATCH Usability Tools.