Interpretation ID: nht91-4.50

DATE: July 16, 1991

FROM: Paul Jackson Rice -- Chief Counsel, NHTSA

TO: Allen I. Swenson -- The Compliance Group, Inc.

TITLE: None

ATTACHMT: Attached to letter dated 5-23-91 from Allen I. Swenson to Robert F. Helmuth (OCC 6085)

TEXT:

This responds to your letter to Robert Hellmuth, the Director of NHTSA's Office of Vehicle Safety Compliance, seeking information about a recent amendment requiring lap/shoulder belts to be installed at rear outboard seating positions in light trucks and multipurpose passenger vehicles. You were particularly interested in the requirements for readily removable seats at such positions. I am pleased to have this opportunity to explain our regulation to you.

As you correctly noted, NHTSA published a final rule on July 30, 1990 (55 FR 30914), addressing requirements for lap/shoulder belts to be installed in all forward-facing rear outboard seating positions in light trucks and multipurpose passenger vehicles. That July 30 final rule specifically addressed the issue of lap/shoulder belts at readily removable seats (that is, seats designed to be easily removed and replaced by means installed by the manufacturer for that purpose). In response to a petition by Ford, the agency included the following discussion in the preamble to the July 30 rule (see 55 FR 30914, at 30916-30917):

. . . These vehicles do not currently use, nor did Ford plan to begin using, a release mechanism that complies with the requirements that are scheduled to take effect on September 1, 1991, Accordingly, Ford will need to make the changes described in its petition. NHTSA has concluded that an additional year of leadtime is needed to allow Ford to make the necessary changes. Therefore, this notice delays the requirement for rear seat lap/shoulder belts to be installed at outboard seating positions on readily removable seats for one year, so that it now applies to vehicles manufactured on or after September 1, 1992.

Hence, outboard seating positions on readily removable seats in light trucks and multipurpose passenger vehicles are not required to be equipped with lap/shoulder belts until September 1, 1992. Before that date, those seating positions may be equipped with either lap-only belts or with lap/shoulder belts, at the manufacturer's option.

I hope this information is useful. If you have any further questions or need additional information on this subject, please feel free to contact Steve Kratzke of this office at this address or by telephone at (202) 366-2992.