Motor vehicle safety standards: Side impact protection; inflatable restraint systems; benefits and risks; meeting,
[Federal Register: March 24, 1999 (Volume 64, Number 56)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 14207-14209]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr24mr99-30]
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
49 CFR Part 571
[Docket No. NHTSA 99-5098]
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Side Impact Protection
AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), DOT.
ACTION: Notice of a public meeting.
SUMMARY: This document announces that NHTSA will be holding a public meeting to explore technical issues (including test procedures) relating to the assessment of potential benefits and risks of inflatable restraint systems for side crash protection. This meeting is intended to provide an opportunity for
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the automotive community and interested parties to discuss their evaluation of the safety performance of these inflatable restraint systems. The meeting is open to both participants (presenters and discussants) and observers.
DATES: Public Meeting: A public meeting will be held on April 19, 1999, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. If you wish to participate in the meeting, contact Randa Radwan Samaha, at the address, telephone, or e-mail listed below, by April 7, 1999. If you wish to present a prepared oral statement during the meeting, please provide a copy of your statement to Ms. Samaha by April 12, 1999.
Written Comments: If you wish to submit written comments to the agency, you must do so in time for the agency to receive your comments by April 30, 1999.
ADDRESSES: Public Meeting: The public meeting will be held in Room 2230 of the Nassif Building, 400 Seventh St., S.W., Washington, DC 20590.
Written Comments: If you wish to submit written comments on the issues related to or discussed at this meeting, mention Docket No. NHTSA 99-5098 in your comments, and submit them to: Docket Management, Room PL-401, 400 Seventh Street, S.W., Washington, DC 20590 (Docket hours are from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For non-legal issues: Randa Radwan Samaha, Office of Vehicle Safety Research, NRD-11, 400 Seventh Street, S.W., Washington, DC 20590 (telephone 202-366-4707; fax 202-366-5670, randa.samaha.@nhtsa.dot.gov).
For legal issues: Edward Glancy, Office of Chief Counsel, NCC-20, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 400 Seventh Street, S.W., Washington, DC 20590 (telephone 202-366-2992; fax 202-366-3820).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
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Background
Several types of inflatable restraint systems (IRS) for side crash protection are rapidly emerging in the U.S. and world markets. The number of vehicles equipped with these systems is projected to increase substantially over the next two to three years. About three-quarters of automakers already offer side-mounted air bags in at least some of their model year 1999 vehicles. The side IRS vary widely in designs, sizes, mounting locations and methods, inflation systems, body regions protected, and areas of coverage. In particular, there are seat and door mounted air bag systems for thorax protection, seat-mounted air bag systems for combination thorax/head protection, and various versions of window curtains, an inflatable tubular structure system, and headrest-mounted air bags for head protection.
Although these systems have been demonstrated to have potential for superior protection in side crashes, there may be a potential of added injury risk by the side IRS to out-of-position children and adults. This potential risk has been examined in exploratory static deployment testing by vehicle manufacturers, NHTSA, Transport Canada, and other institutions; discussed in recent communications between the agency and the automakers; and called attention to in some automakers' news releases and owner's manuals.
In view of the potential risk, it is necessary to understand the performance and overall effectiveness of these recently introduced systems. It is especially necessary to conduct a critical evaluation of any possible harmful effects and unintended consequences of their deployment for children and out-of-position occupants. In December 1998, NHTSA sent a letter to twenty-one vehicle manufacturer executives urging them to personally ensure that their side-mounted air bag systems are designed to ``do no harm'' to occupants. In a February 1999 public statement, the agency said that, ``Manufacturers have an obligation to thoroughly and adequately test the safety of any new technology under real world conditions prior to introduction into the market place.'' In addition, the agency noted in that statement that it ``has held meetings with industry to better understand system designs.''
To date, NHTSA has not received any reports of serious or fatal injuries directly attributable to a side IRS. Both NHTSA and Transport Canada are currently monitoring the field experience of these systems in North America. Further, NHTSA is aware of vehicle manufacturers' efforts to find ways to minimize injury risk to out-of-position occupants either through the design or location of the side IRS, or by means of automatic deactivation under certain circumstances (e.g., when the presence of a child is detected by sensors in the vehicle seat).
Although the side IRS are designed primarily to provide protection to adult occupants, vehicle manufacturers conduct tests with smaller- sized dummies to attempt to determine the injury potential to out-of- position adults and children. Based on recent communications with vehicle manufacturers, the agency is aware of substantial differences among vehicle manufacturers in the test procedures and type of testing performed with child sized and adult dummies, and the levels of the biomechanical injury criteria considered as acceptable performance. (The agency notes that much of the information submitted to it by the manufacturers was provided along with requests that the information be treated as confidential business information under 5 U.S.C. 552. The agency has granted those requests.)
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Public Meeting
In light of the foregoing, the agency is holding a public meeting to share the real world and test data that are available and explore technical issues relating to the assessment of potential benefits and risks of side IRS.
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Purpose and Issues
The purpose of this meeting is to:
‹bullet› Share real world field and test data on the performance of side IRS involving both children and adult occupants.
‹bullet› Obtain specific technical comments, discussion, and/or constructive input related to the test conditions, anthropomorphic devices, and injury criteria for evaluating the potential benefits and injury risks of side IRS.
‹bullet› Obtain pertinent technical comments, discussion, and/or constructive input related to new technologies applicable to side IRS design and performance.
‹bullet› Provide an opportunity for interested persons to present other pertinent data relevant to and appropriate for the assessment of side IRS, e.g., specifications for desirable performance.
Specific issues to be considered and discussed during the meeting include:
‹bullet› What are the appropriate criteria and their biomechanical bases for assessing injury risk to out-of-position children and adults? Specific body regions to be considered include as a minimum the skull/ brain, the neck, the thorax, the upper and lower extremities, and auditory system.
‹bullet› What and how many appropriate tests should be performed to determine if the side IRS are safe and providing a safety benefit?
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Procedural Matters.
A written transcript of the meeting will be made.
To make efficient use of the limited time available for the meeting, the issues will be addressed in the following order:
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Available real world field data.
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Available test data.
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IRS Injury Risk
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IRS Effectiveness 3. Child and adult injury criteria for the skull/brain, neck, torso, upper and lower extremities, and auditory system. 4. New technologies applicable to side IRS design and performance (e.g., sensing and suppression). 5. Proposals for test conditions and procedures.
The discussion of each issue will be structured as follows: (1) A short presentation by NHTSA, (2) Presentations by persons and organizations who have indicated the desire to present data or share other information, (3) Presentations of any new or unconsidered data by interested persons, (4) An open discussion by meeting participants of the technical merits of the presentations and of potential test procedures, and (5) A summary statement.
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Meeting Participation
This is a public meeting and attendance is open to all members of the public. You may attend as a participant (a presenter or a discussant) or an observer.
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Written Comments
To ensure that the agency is fully cognizant of the issues and positions taken at this meeting, you are encouraged to submit written comments on the issues related to or discussed at this meeting. Two copies should be submitted to DOT's Docket Management Office at the address given at the beginning of this document.
In addition, if your comments are four or more pages in length, we request, but do not require, that you send 10 additional copies, as well as one copy on computer disc, to: Randa Radwan Samaha, Office of Vehicle Safety Research, NRD-11, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 400 Seventh Street, S.W., Washington, DC 20590. Providing these additional copies would aid the agency in expediting its review of your comments. The copy on computer disc may be in any format, although the agency would prefer that it be in WordPerfect 8.
Your comments must not exceed 15 pages in length (49 CFR 553.21). You may append necessary supplemental material to your comments without regard to the 15-page limit. This limitation is intended to encourage you to detail your primary arguments in a concise fashion. This will aid the agency in understanding your comments.
If you wish to submit certain information under a claim of confidentiality, you should submit three copies of the complete submission, including purportedly confidential business information, to the Chief Counsel, NHTSA, at the street address given above. In addition, you should submit two copies from which the purportedly confidential information has been deleted to Docket Management. Your request for confidentiality should be accompanied by a cover letter setting forth the information specified in the agency's confidential business information regulation. 49 CFR Part 512.
Authority: 49 U.S.C. 322, 30111, 30115, 30117, and 30166; delegation of authority at 49 CFR 1.50.
Issued on: March 17, 1999. L. Robert Shelton, Associate Administrator for Safety Performance Standards. Raymond P. Owings, Associate Administrator for Research and Development.
[FR Doc. 99-7172Filed3-23-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P
