Interpretation ID: aiam4103
Safety Transport Inter (Pty) Ltd.
P.O. Box 1513
Dassenberg 7350
SOUTH AFRICA;
Dear Mr. Elvin-Jensen: This responds to your letter dated August 28, 1985, asking whether child booster seat marketed by your company complies with Standard No. 213, *Child Restraint Systems*. I regret the delay in replying to your letter.; The descriptive materials accompanying your letter indicate that you child seat is secured by a vehicle's belt system, and has no harness of its own. Standard No. 213 applies to all child restraint systems. Those systems are defined in S4 of the standard as including 'any device, except Type I or Type II seat belts, designed for use in motor vehicle (sic) to restrain, seat, or position children who weigh not more than 50 pounds.' The information enclosed with your letter states that the child booster seat is intended to seat children weighing from 15 to 32 kg., which is equivalent to 33 to 70.5 pounds. This weight range includes children who weigh up to 50 pounds. Therefore, Standard No. 213 would apply to your product if it is marketed in this country.; You ask if Standard No. 213 requires child restraint systems to hav their own harness. The answer is no. The specific requirements of the standard on child restraint harness systems only apply if a manufacturer provides belts as a part of the system. Thus, for example, section 5.4.3.3 does not require that each child restraint be equipped with a harness meeting the requirements of that section. Instead, it provides that 'each child restraint system . . .*that has belts designed to restrain the child*' must comply with those requirements. (Emphasis added.); Under S6.1 of the standard, your child booster seat would be teste with a Type I safety belt (i.e., lap belt) attached. Although abdominal loading is not specifically measured in the test, the agency is concerned that when a vehicle lap belt is used with a child restraint system to restrain a child, the belt be positioned so that it does not apply impact loads to the abdomen of the child. The abdomen is, of course, the area of the body most vulnerable to the forces imposed by the belt in a crash. Thus, the agency believes that the lap belt should be held in place by the child restraint so that it passes over the pelvis and thighs of a child, areas of the body best able to withstand the forces imposed by the vehicle belt. Based on the photograph of your child booster seat, we are concerned that the vehicle lap belt may not be properly positioned and securely held by the restraint. Instead, the lap belt may allow submarining and may apply impact loads to the abdomen, unless the seating surface of the restraint is designed to prevent submarining. The agency is also concerned that the lap belt should be properly positioned and securely held so that no substantial inertial loads of the booster seat are applied to the child.; The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act (the Act), a amended, 15 U.S.C. 1391, *et seq*., under which Standard No. 213 was issued, provides for self-certification by manufacturers instead of the type-approval or homologation process used in Europe and elsewhere. Under the Act, manufacturers are responsible for certifying that their items of motor vehicle equipment, such as child seats, comply with the requirements of any applicable safety standard. If you plan to market your child safety seat in this country, you should ensure that your child safety seat complies with all of the applicable requirements of the standard, including the certification requirements of S5.5.; Under the Act and our regulation, manufacturers also have th responsibility to conduct notification and remedy campaigns for safety related defects or noncompliances in their products (sections 151-159). The Act defines a manufacturer as 'any person engaging in the manufacturing or assembling of motor vehicles or motor vehicle equipment, including any person importing motor vehicles or motor vehicle equipment for resale.' In the event that neither the importer nor the assembling manufacturer met an obligation imposed on a 'manufacturer' by the Act or our regulations, the agency would consider taking enforcement action against both parties. Any such obligation, however, could be satisfied by either party.; In addition, there are two other regulations which affec manufacturers. Those regulations require manufacturers to provide the agency with certain identifying information (49 CFR Part 566), and, in the case of foreign manufacturers, to designate an agent for the service of process (49 CFR Part 551).; Copies of Standard No. 213, the Act, Part 566, Part 551, 19 CFR 12.8 and an instruction sheet for new manufacturers are enclosed.; I hope this information is helpful to you. Sincerely, Erika Z. Jones, Chief Counsel