Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Child Restraint Systems, Child Restraint Anchorage Systems, Incorporation by Reference

<RULE> DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION <SUBAGY>National Highway Traffic Safety Administration</SUBAGY> <CFR>49 CFR Parts 571 and 585</CFR> <DEPDOC>[Docket No. NHTSA-2024-0089]</DEPDOC> <RIN>RIN 2127-AL20</RIN> <SUBJECT>Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Child Restraint Systems, Child Restraint Anchorage Systems, Incorporation by Reference</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 amends Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 225; Child restraint systems, and FMVSS No. 213b; Child restraint systems, to improve ease-of-use of the lower and tether anchorages, improve correct use of child restraint systems in vehicles, and maintain or improve the correct use and effectiveness of child restraint systems (CRSs) in motor vehicles. This final rule fulfills a mandate of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) requiring that NHTSA improve the ease-of-use for lower anchorages and tethers in all rear seat positions. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> <E T="03">Effective date:</E> March 10, 2025. <E T="03">IBR date:</E> The incorporation by reference of certain publications listed in the rule is approved by the Director of the Federal Register beginning March 10, 2025. <E T="03">Compliance date:</E> This final rule adopts a 3-year phase-in period to comply with the updated requirements in FMVSS No. 225. The phase-in begins on September 1, 2028, and requires that 20 percent of a manufacturer's applicable vehicles produced from September 1, 2028, to August 31, 2029, comply with the updated FMVSS No. 225, followed by 50 percent from September 1, 2029, to August 31, 2030, and 100 percent on and after September 1, 2030. Early compliance is permitted. <E T="03">Reconsideration date:</E> If you wish to petition for reconsideration of this rule, your petition must be received by February 21, 2025. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> Petitions for reconsideration of this final rule must refer to the docket 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">www.regulations.gov,</E> including any personal information provided. <E T="03">Confidential Business Information:</E> If you wish to submit any information under a claim of confidentiality, you should submit 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 a copy, 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). Please see further information in the Regulatory Notices and Analyses section of this preamble. <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 (65 FR19477-78) or you may visit <E T="03">www.transportation.gov/individuals/privacy/privacy-act-system-records-notices.</E> <E T="03">Docket:</E> For access to the docket to read background documents or comments received, go to <E T="03">www.regulations.gov,</E> or the street address listed above. Follow the online instructions for accessing the dockets. <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> For technical issues, you may call Cristina Echemendia, Office of Crashworthiness Standards (phone: 202-366-6345). For legal issues, you may call Natasha Reed, Office of the Chief Counsel (phone: 202-366-2992). The mailing address of these officials is: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, Washington, DC 20590. </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> In accordance with MAP-21 (Pub. L. 112-141), this final rule amends FMVSS No. 225  to improve the ease-of-use of child restraint anchorage systems. MAP-21 Section 31502 requires the Secretary of Transportation (NHTSA by delegation) to improve the ease-of-use for lower anchorages and tethers in all rear seat seating positions if such anchorages and tethers are feasible. Section 31502 of MAP-21 states that the Secretary must issue a final rule unless such an amendment to FMVSS No. 225 does not meet the requirements and considerations set forth in subsections (a) and (b) of section 30111 of title 49, United States Code (the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act (Safety Act)). NHTSA is issuing this final rule, as directed by MAP-21, after determining that the rule meets the requirements and considerations of section 30111(a) and (b) of the Safety Act. This final rule also fulfils NHTSA's goal of improving the usability of child restraint anchorage systems. <SU>3</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>1</SU>  49 CFR 571.225, “Child restraint anchorage systems.” </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>2</SU>  The 2015 NPRM proposed changes to FMVSS No. 213; however, NHTSA recently amended FMVSS No. 213 and issued FMVSS No. 213b for plain language reasons relating to multiple compliance dates of the amendments (88 FR 84514). NHTSA decided the requirements would be easier to read and understand if the agency issued amendments becoming effective on December 5, 2024, for FMVSS No. 213 and December 5, 2026, for FMVSS No. 213b. </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>3</SU>  NHTSA's 2011-2013 Priority Plan. Link: <E T="03">www.regulations.gov/document/NHTSA-2009-0108-0032.</E> </FTNT> NHTSA published the notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) preceding this final rule on January 23, 2015 (80 FR 3744). In this final rule preamble, NHTSA is using the term “child restraint anchorage system” (CRAS) to refer to the full vehicle system  <SU>4</SU> <FTREF/> that is designed for attaching a child restraint system (CRS) to a vehicle at a particular designated seating position (DSP).”  <SU>5</SU> <FTREF/> NHTSA also uses the term “lower anchorages” for the lower anchorage points of a CRAS. The agency refers to the tether securement point as a “tether anchorage.” For the CRS, this preamble uses the following terms to refer to the various parts of a child restraint that connect to the CRAS, as appropriate: “child restraint system connectors” (or “CRS connectors”), “lower anchorage connector(s),” “tether anchorage connector,” “tether strap,” and “tether hook.” <FTNT> <SU>4</SU>  A full vehicle child restraint anchorage system has two lower anchorages and one tether anchorage in a designated seating position. </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>5</SU>  Many in the child passenger safety community refer to the child restraint anchorage system as the “LATCH” system, an abbreviation of the phrase “Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children.” This term was developed by a group of manufacturers and retailers soon after the 1999 final rule (64 FR 10786) to educate consumers on the availability and use of the anchorage system and for marketing purposes. “LATCH” has historically been used in various field materials and by NHTSA to refer to the vehicle 3-point child restraint anchorage system. However, the term has also been used to refer to only the lower two anchorages of the system, or to refer to the connectors of the child restraint system that attach to the lower anchorages. Further, NHTSA understands many consumers identify the tether anchorage solely with the “LATCH” system, and thus mistakenly do not attach the CRS's tether strap when using the vehicle belt system to attach a child restraint. As such, NHTSA has chosen to avoid using the term “LATCH” in this document where possible to avoid ambiguity. </FTNT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Table of Contents</HD> <EXTRACT> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">I. Executive Summary</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">II. Statutory Authority</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">III. Summary of the NPRM</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">IV. High Level Summary of the Comments Received</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">V. Improving the Ease of Using Lower Anchorages</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">a. Attaching to the Lower Anchorages</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">b. Post-NPRM Research</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">c. Summary of Decision on Assessing Usability of Lower Anchorages</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">d. Detailed Agency Decisions Regarding the Tools and Performance Criteria</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">VI. Improving the Ease of Using the Tether Anchorage</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">a. Attaching to the Tether Anchorage</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">b. Tightening the Tether</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">c. Noticing the Tether Anchorage</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">d. Recognizing the Tether Anchorages</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">VII. Conspicuity and Identification of Vehicle Anchorages and CRS Connectors</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">a. General Comments and Agency Responses</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">b. Lower Anchorage Marking Comments and Agency Responses</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">c. Tether Anchorage and Connector Marking Comments and Agency Responses</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">d. Tether Anchorage Marking Comments and Agency Responses</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">VIII. 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