Interpretation ID: 22133deddo

Mr. Daniel G. Deddo
Child-Seat Safety Products Co.
3600 Lime Street, Room 118
Riverside, CA 92501-2972

Dear Mr. Deddo:

This is in response to your letter asking for this agency's comments on your new product, the Car Seat Grabber and Child-Seat Safety Anchors. Specifically, you ask whether your product complies with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 209, Seat Belt Assemblies, and Standard No. 210, Seat Belt Assembly Anchorages.

By way of background, 49 U.S.C. Chapter 301, Motor Vehicle Safety, authorizes the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to issue Federal motor vehicle safety standards (FMVSS) for new motor vehicles and new items of motor vehicle equipment. NHTSA, however, does not approve motor vehicles or motor vehicle equipment or pass on the compliance of a vehicle or item of equipment outside the context of an actual enforcement proceeding. Instead, our statute establishes a "self-certification" process under which each manufacturer is responsible for certifying that its products meet all applicable safety standards. The following represents our opinion based on the facts set forth in your letter.

You have developed a type of anchorage system for child restraints. The system is designed to be retrofitted to vehicles already on the road (as opposed to being installed in new vehicles by the vehicle's manufacturer or by an alterer). The anchorage system consists of three anchor points, each of which you call a "grabber." The "grabbers" consist of an O-ring type component attached to one end of a length of belt webbing. The other end of the webbing is bolted to the vehicle structure. Your sales brochure has the following description:

1. Top grabber installed at back lid of rear seat or on floor in SUV's [sport utility vehicles] or minivans, used to fasten upper child-seat tether strap.

2. Bottom grabbers ... are installed at the junction of the seat and back, to anchor child-seats and booster seats.

3. Bottom grabbers are attached to safety tested webbing and bracket, bolted to the car body pan with reinforced body washer....

In addition, you would bolt a tether strap to child restraints to attach to the "top grabber." You also provide a "nylon tether strap with hooks" that anchors to the lower "grabbers" on the vehicle seat. The nylon strap would be routed through the belt path molded into child restraints.

On March 5, 1999, NHTSA issued a safety standard for child restraint anchorage systems, Standard No. 225 (49 CFR '571.225). This standard requires all new passenger vehicles to have child restraint anchorage systems meeting specified strength, configuration, marking, and other requirements. A child restraint anchorage system consists of two lower anchorages and a tether anchorage. Passenger vehicles began phasing-in the lower anchorages in September 2000, and the tether anchorage in September 1999. Because it is a "vehicle" standard, Standard No. 225 applies to new motor vehicles and not to an "aftermarket" child restraint anchorage system, such as yours, that is sold for installation on used vehicles.

Nonetheless, we believe that the requirements of Standard No. 225 are necessary to ensure that child restraint anchorage systems provide at least a minimum level of safety. Moreover, anchorage systems with features different from those required by Standard No. 225 could lead to consumer confusion, and therefore have an adverse effect on motor vehicle safety. Therefore, although the standard does not apply to aftermarket systems, we urge you to assess whether your system is consistent with Standard No. 225's requirements, and to make appropriate changes.

While Standard No. 225 does not apply to your product, under NHTSA's enabling statute we consider your product to be an item of motor vehicle equipment. Manufacturers of motor vehicle equipment are responsible under our statute to ensure that their products are free of safety-related defects (49 U.S.C. ''30118-30221). In the event that you or we determine that your product contains a safety-related defect, you would be responsible for notifying purchasers of the defective equipment and remedying the problem free of charge. For example, if your child restraint anchorage system performs poorly in restraining a child restraint, we may determine that a safety-related defect exists, in which case we could require you to remedy the problem free of charge.

You should also be aware that our statute prohibits manufacturers, distributors, dealers, and motor vehicle repair businesses from knowingly making inoperative any device or element of design installed on or in a motor vehicle or item of motor vehicle equipment in compliance with an applicable FMVSS (49 U.S.C. '30122). If the installation of your product in a motor vehicle results in the vehicle no longer complying with any applicable FMVSS, then the manufacturer, distributor, dealer, or motor vehicle repair business that installed your product would have violated the make inoperative provision. The law permits NHTSA to impose a civil penalty of up to $5,000 for each violation of the make inoperative provision. Similarly, if the modification of child restraints (by bolting on tether straps) results in the restraints no longer meeting our safety standard for child restraints (Standard No. 213), any party listed in '30122 modifying the restraint would be subject to substantial civil penalties.

It is impossible for us to determine from the material you submitted whether your system would perform well in a crash. However, we would like to take this opportunity to raise the following issues about your design.

Strength and Durability

We do not know whether your system would be able to securely contain a child restraint system in a crash. It appears that the grabbers are simply bolted to the car body pan with washers, with little or no reinforcement of the vehicle structure. Without reinforcement, the vehicle seat and/or structure may not be able to withstand the crash forces imposed on them. Further, the webbing of the bottom grabbers are routed vertically from the vehicle floor pan through the vehicle seat "bight" (the intersection of the seat cushion and the seat back), then lie along the top of the vehicle cushion where they attach to the child restraint. In a frontal crash, the forward motion of the child restraint could cause the bottom grabbers to straighten in the forward direction, which could displace the bottom seat cushion and result in excessive forward translation of the child restraint and excessive excursion of a child occupant's head and chest. In addition, the bottom grabbers are positioned several inches forward of the seat bight. Forward-mounted anchors can allow excessive forward displacement of a child restraint in a frontal collision, especially if the child restraint is not secured at the top tether anchor, which can increase the likelihood of head impacts with structures forward of the child. We strongly urge you to fully assess whether your anchorage system will adequately retain a child restraint and child in a crash, particularly since parents and caregivers might use the Grabber system in lieu of the vehicle's belts.

You specifically asked about Standard Nos. 209 and 210. These standards do not apply to your product. Standard No. 209 applies to straps, webbing or similar devices designed to secure a person in a motor vehicle in order to mitigate the results of any accident. However, we recommend that your product meet the standard's specifications, since they increase the likelihood that straps, webbing and buckles perform satisfactorily throughout the life of a vehicle. Standard No. 210 applies to seat belt anchorages on new motor vehicles.

Drilling Holes in Child Restraints

In your letter, you ask whether you are violating any Federal motor vehicle safety standards by drilling holes in child restraints to attach the top anchors of your product. If by drilling holes a motor vehicle manufacturer, distributor, dealer, or repair business affects a child restraint system such that it can no longer meet all of the requirements of Standard No. 213, a violation of the make inoperative provision, discussed above, would result. In addition, the equipment you provide and the installation of it on the child restraint must not result in safety-related defects.

Consumer Information

I note that in your sales brochure advertising the Car Seat Grabber and Child-Seat Safety Anchors you state that your product is "in conformity with NHTSA & FMSS CR 49, 571 and 596, New Federal Motor Standards." Since no Federal motor vehicle safety standard applies to your product, you cannot claim--in fact, you are prohibited from claiming--that your product complies with Federal standards. Thus, you must remove this statement and any similar statements from any materials advertising the Car Seat Grabber and Child-Seat Safety Anchors.

The brochure also states on its front cover: "A recent new ruling by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration requires that child-seats and booster seats in all passenger vehicles must be restrained with the [sic] new 3-point safety anchors when traveling...." This statement is not correct. NHTSA regulates the manufacture and sale of vehicles and equipment, but not the use of safety systems. Pursuant to the phase-in in Standard No. 225, we are requiring new passenger vehicles to have a specific, universal child restraint anchorage system, one different from yours. Your statement, implying that NHTSA requires the use of your system, is therefore erroneous and misleading. Furthermore, Standard No. 213 excludes belt-positioning booster seats from the requirement to have components that fasten to the child restraint anchorage system. For all these reasons, your statement need to be corrected.

Front Seat Installation

You note in your letter that you intend to install your anchorage system in the front seat of vehicles, "primarily in pickup trucks." We have strong concerns about installing child restraint anchorage systems at seating positions where an air bag is present, due to the hazards associated with deploying air bags, especially for infants in a rear-facing child restraint. The presence of a child restraint anchorage system at the front seating position could mistakenly imply to consumers that the seating position is suitable for a child restraint. For this reason, Standard No. 225 prohibits installation of a child restraint anchorage system at a seating position with an air bag in new vehicles. We urge you to recommend that parents put children in the rear seat, even in vehicles without an air bag. If a rear seat is unavailable, as in a pickup truck, the owner should consider installing an air bag on-off switch. Information about the switches can be obtained from our website at www.nhtsa.dot.gov

We believe that the message that children belong in the rear seat cannot be overemphasized, especially for infants in rear-facing child seats.

State Laws and Private Liability

Individual States are responsible for regulating the use of motor vehicles, and a State may have its own requirements with regard to the type of child restraint anchorage systems a vehicle must have to be registered or operated in that State. Moreover, compliance with our regulations and standards does not insulate you from civil liability. You might wish to consult with a private attorney about such civil liability issues.

I have enclosed an information sheet for new manufacturers for your information. If you have any further questions, please contact Deirdre Fujita in my office at (202) 366-2992.

Sincerely,

John Womack
Acting Chief Counsel

Enclosure
ref:213#225
d.8/22/01