Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Anti-Ejection Glazing for Bus Portals; Bus Emergency Exits and Window Retention and Release

<RULE> DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION <SUBAGY>National Highway Traffic Safety Administration</SUBAGY> <CFR>49 CFR Part 571</CFR> <DEPDOC>[Docket No. NHTSA-2024-0061]</DEPDOC> <RIN>RIN 2127-AL36</RIN> <SUBJECT>Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Anti-Ejection Glazing for Bus Portals; Bus Emergency Exits and Window Retention and Release</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Department of Transportation (DOT). <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Final rule. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> This final rule establishes Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 217a, “Anti-ejection glazing for bus portals; Mandatory applicability beginning October 30, 2027,” to drive the installation of advanced glazing in over-the-road buses (motorcoaches) and other large buses to reduce passenger and driver ejections. This final rule, issued pursuant to the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21), specifies impactor tests of the glazing material of side and roof windows. The impactor and impact speed simulate the loading from an average size unrestrained adult male impacting a window on the opposite side of a large bus in a rollover. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> <E T="03">Effective date:</E> December 30, 2024. <E T="03">Compliance date:</E> The compliance date for FMVSS No. 217a and the amendments to FMVSS No. 217 is October 30, 2027. Optional early compliance with the standards is permitted. <E T="03">Reconsideration date:</E> If you wish to petition for reconsideration of this rule, your petition must be received by December 16, 2024. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> Petitions for reconsideration of this final rule must refer to the docket and notice number set forth above and be submitted to the Administrator, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590. Note that all petitions received will be posted without change to <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov,</E> including any personal information provided. <E T="03">Docket:</E> For access to the docket to read background documents or comments received, go to <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov</E> at any time or to 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. Telephone: (202) 366-9826. <E T="03">Privacy Act:</E> The petition will be placed in the docket. Anyone is able to search the electronic form of all documents received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review DOT's complete Privacy Act Statement in the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> published on April 11, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 70; Pages 19477-78) or you may visit <E T="03">https://www.transportation.gov/individuals/privacy/privacy-act-system-records-notices.</E> <E T="03">Confidential Business Information:</E> If you wish to submit any information under a claim of confidentiality, you should submit three copies of your complete submission, including the information you claim to be confidential business information, to the Chief Counsel, NHTSA, at the address given under <E T="02">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT</E> . In addition, you should submit two copies, from which you have deleted the claimed confidential business information, to Docket Management at the address given above. When you send a submission containing information claimed to be confidential business information, you should include a cover letter setting forth the information specified in our confidential business information regulation (49 CFR part 512). <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> For technical issues, you may contact Mr. Dow Shelnutt, Office of Crashworthiness Standards, Telephone: (202) 366-8779, Facsimile: (202) 493-2739. For legal issues, you may contact Mr. Matthew Filpi, Office of the Chief Counsel, Telephone: (202) 366-2992, Facsimile: (202) 366-3820. The mailing address of these officials is: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590. </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Table of Contents</HD> <EXTRACT> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">I. Executive Summary</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">II. Background</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">a. NHTSA's Approach to Motorcoach Safety</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">b. U.S. DOT Motorcoach Safety Action Plan</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">c. Congressional Action: MAP-21 and the Motorcoach Enhanced Safety Act</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">d. NHTSA's 2013 Motorcoach Seat Belt Final Rule</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">e. NHTSA's 2021 Motorcoach Structural Integrity Final Rule</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">f. Data and Safety Need for Strengthening Motorcoach Window Glazing</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2"> g. The 2016 NPRM </FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">III. NHTSA's Statutory Authority</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">a. National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act (Safety Act)</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">b. MAP-21 (Incorporating the Motorcoach Enhanced Safety Act of 2012)</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">IV. The Final Rule and Response to Comments</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">a. Establishing FMVSS No. 217a and New Requirements</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">b. Differences Between the NPRM and the Final Rule</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">V. Summary of Comments and Agency Responses</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">a. Overview of Comments</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">b. Applicability</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">c. Occupant Injury Protection</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">d. Test Procedures and Equipment</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">e. Performance Requirements</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">f. Organization of the Standard and Language Used in the Standard</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">g. Compliance Date</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">h. Retrofitting</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">i. Definitions and Descriptions</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">j. Costs and Benefits</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">VI. Overview of Costs and Benefits</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">VII. Regulatory Notices and Analyses</FP> </EXTRACT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">I. Executive Summary</HD> In 2007, NHTSA published a comprehensive plan on possible improvements in motorcoach safety. <SU>1</SU> <FTREF/> NHTSA's motorcoach safety plan identified four specific areas to most expeditiously achieve our goals: requiring seat belts (minimizing passenger and driver ejection from the motorcoach), improved roof strength, emergency evacuation, and fire safety. This final rule is another step in the agency's efforts to improve over-the-road bus (OTRB  <SU>2</SU> <FTREF/> ) and large bus  <SU>3</SU> <FTREF/> safety. This final rule establishes a new FMVSS, FMVSS No. 217a, “Anti-Ejection Glazing for Bus Portals; Mandatory applicability beginning October 30, 2027,” to mitigate partial and complete ejection of passengers from windows on the side and roof of motorcoaches and large buses and to ensure that emergency exits remain operable after a rollover crash. <FTNT> <SU>1</SU>  Docket No. NHTSA-2007-28793, NHTSA's Approach to Motorcoach Safety. </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>2</SU>  An over-the-road bus is characterized by an elevated passenger deck located over a baggage compartment. </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>3</SU>  Generally, certain buses with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) greater than 26,000 pounds (lb) (11,793.4 kilograms (kg)). </FTNT> This final rule fulfills a statutory mandate in the Motorcoach Enhanced Safety Act of 2012 (Motorcoach Enhanced Safety Act), which was incorporated and passed as part of MAP-21. The Motorcoach Enhanced Safety Act required the DOT to prescribe regulations that address passenger ejection in motorcoaches. <SU>4</SU> <FTREF/> Additionally, MAP-21 required DOT to consider requiring advanced glazing standards for motorcoach portals. <FTNT> <SU>4</SU>  In section 32702(6) of MAP-21, a motorcoach is defined as an over-the-road bus, not including transit buses or school buses. </FTNT> The Motorcoach Enhanced Safety Act emphasizes anti-ejection safety countermeasures, particularly advanced glazing. Section 32703(b)(2) of MAP-21 directs the Secretary to consider requiring advanced glazing standards for each motorcoach portal and to consider other portal improvements to prevent partial and complete ejection of motorcoach passengers, including children. Section 32703(b)(2) also states that in prescribing such standards, the Secretary shall consider the impact of such standards on the use of motorcoach portals as a means of emergency egress. MAP-21 requires NHTSA to adopt a final rule if NHTSA determines that such standards meet the requirements and considerations in subsections (a) and (b) of section 30111 of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act. <SU>5</SU> <FTREF/> As discussed in this final rule, NHTSA has made such a determination regarding an FMVSS for motorcoaches and certain large buses. <FTNT> <SU>5</SU>  MAP-21, section 32703(b) and (b)(1). </FTNT> The May 6, 2016, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM)  <SU>6</SU> <FTREF/> was among the rulemakings issued pursuant to NHTSA's 2007 Approach to Motorcoach Safety and DOT's Departmental Motorcoach Safety Action Plan. <SU>7</SU> <FTREF/> Both of these agency documents recognized that there was work to be done in protecting the public from death and serious injury in OTRB and large bus crashes. Although there are relatively few OTRB and large bus crashes when compared to other vehicle types, OTRB and large bus crashes tend to be serious when they do occur because they generally carry large numbers of passengers. Since producing these safety plans, NHTSA has promulgated several final rules targeted at protecting OTRB and large ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 207k characters. Full document text is stored and available for version comparison. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━