Interpretation ID: nht78-1.40

DATE: 09/05/78

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; J. J. Levin, Jr.; NHTSA

TO: Thomas Built Buses, Inc.

TITLE: FMVSS INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This responds to your July 19, 1978, letter asking whether the State of California is preempted from requiring that all seats in school buses be forward facing.

Section 103(d) of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 (the Act) (15 U.S.C. 1381 et seq.) specifies that no State shall have in effect a safety standard concerning an aspect of performance regulated by a Federal safety standard, unless the State standard is identical. The Act provides a limited exception to the above where a State or local municipality has a requirement which applies only to vehicles purchased for their own use and which imposes a higher standard of performance.

Standard No. 222, School Bus Passenger Seating and Crash Protection, specifies that seats shall be forward facing except seats designed to transport the handicapped. Seats for the handicapped may be side facing to permit ease of access. The California standard requiring forward facing seats regulates the same aspect of performance, seat orientation, as the Federal standard. Since the California standard is not identical to the Federal standard and, in fact, conflicts with the Federal standard, it is the opinion of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that it is preempted.

SINCERELY,

Thomas BUILT BUSES, INC.

July 19, 1978

Office of the Chief Counsel U. S. Dept. of Transportation

Attn: Roger Tilton

Subject: Seats - Side Facing - Handicapped Vehicles

In the Federal Register, Vol. 41, No. 134 - Monday, July 12, 1976, the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards 571.222-S4 was admended to permit side-facing seats in handicapped vehicles.

It has come to our attention that the State of California has a regulation that permits only forward-facing seats.

The question is does the Federal definition that permits the side-facing seats preempt the California regulation?

Thanking you in advance, we remain

James Tydings, Specifications Engineer