Interpretation ID: nht73-6.2

DATE: 03/01/73

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; L. R. Schneider; NHTSA

TO: Michigan Law Review

COPYEE: MR. VINSON

TITLE: FMVSS INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This is in response to your undated letter to the National Highway Safety Bureau (since December 31, 1970, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) concerning Federal motor vehicle safety standards intended to protect the pedestrian and cyclist.

You ask when Standard No. 211 Wheel Nuts, Wheel Discs and Hub caps was proposed and enacted. This standard was one of the Initial Federal standards proposed late in 1966 and issued in late January 1967 effective January 1, 1968, as to original and replacement equipment. This date is almost four months earlier than the date of the accident in Passwaters v. General Motors Corp., 454 F. 2d 1270 (1972) and thus there is no connection between the two. Standard No. 211 derives from a Swedish standard on vehicle exterior protrusions. Eventually we hope to have a definitive standard on exterior protrusions (incorporating Standard No. 211) intended to prevent serious injury to a pedestrian during the initial impact with the vehicle and to control his trajectory to reduce the severity of secondary impacts. The rule would specify impact force distribution and response requirements for exterior vehicle surfaces.

Our initial rulemaking effort in this area was the issuance of an advance notice of proposed rulemaking establishing Docket No. 2-5, published October 14, 1967, (32 F.R. 14278) asking for general comments on size, shape, location, and sharpness of vehicle corners and edges. At the present time, proposals for research to establish threshold-of-injury data and to investigate techniques for reducing injury are being developed. On the basis of this data we will propose a standard on pedestrian protection. Under our current plans, the final standard would be issued late in 1975 with an effective date of September 1, 1990. We also plan to issue a standard on motorcycle rider protection systems around February 1, 1974, with an effective date of January 1, 1975. The agency's standard on motorcycle headgear, under current plans, will be issued around June 1, 1973, with an effective date of September 1, 1974.