The Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles Rule III for Model Years 2022 to 2031 Passenger Cars and Light Trucks

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION <SUBAGY>National Highway Traffic Safety Administration</SUBAGY> <CFR>49 CFR Parts 523, 531, 533, 536, and 537</CFR> <DEPDOC>[NHTSA-2025-0491]</DEPDOC> <RIN>RIN 2127-AM76</RIN> <SUBJECT>The Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles Rule III for Model Years 2022 to 2031 Passenger Cars and Light Trucks</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM). <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> NHTSA, on behalf of the Department of Transportation (DOT), proposes to substantially recalibrate the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) program to realign this program with Congressional intent. That recalibration includes proposing to amend DOT's fuel economy standards for light-duty vehicles for model years (MYs) 2022-2026 and MYs 2027-2031. Consistent with statutory requirements, the fuel economy standards proposed in this rule are founded on light-duty vehicles powered by gasoline and diesel fuels, a category that includes non-plug-in hybrid vehicles. In formulating the proposed standards, NHTSA has not considered, consistent with law, the imputed fuel-economy performance of battery-powered electric vehicles (EVs) or the electric operation of vehicles that use plug-in hybrid electric powertrains, nor compliance credits or adjustments to the two-cycle fuel economy test procedures to account for air conditioning and off-cycle technologies. NHTSA also is proposing to eliminate the inter-manufacturer credit trading system and to amend the light-duty vehicle fleet classification system to allocate vehicles into passenger and non-passenger automobile fleets appropriately, based on their attributes and capabilities, starting in MY 2028. Elimination of unlawful considerations, combined with several of the proposed changes, would significantly improve the capabilities of manufacturers to meet fuel economy standards, better align the program with Congressional intent, and reduce manufacturer incentives to design vehicles and add features that are not desired by American consumers and that have questionable real-world fuel economy benefits. NHTSA is therefore proposing to set fuel economy standards that increase from newly proposed MY 2022 standards at a rate of 0.5 percent per year through MY 2026, followed by 0.25 percent per year through MY 2031, with MY 2027 stringency established as a bridge between the two sets of standards. The reduced stringency increases in later years, coupled with a reevaluation of the coefficients that define the functions governing fuel economy standards, are intended to establish maximum feasible standards in a manner that gains real-world fuel-economy-benefits, while enabling the industry to adapt to the proposed substantial recalibration of the CAFE program. NHTSA projects that the amended standards would correspond to the industry fleetwide average for all light-duty vehicles of roughly 34.5 miles per gallon (mpg) in MY 2031. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> <E T="03">Comments:</E> Comments are requested on or before January 20, 2026. See the <E T="02">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION</E> section on “Public Participation,” below, for more information about written comments. In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act, NHTSA is also seeking comments on a modification of an existing information collection. For additional information, see the Paperwork Reduction Act section under Section VIII below. All comments relating to the information collection requirements should be submitted to NHTSA and to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) at the address listed in the <E T="02">ADDRESSES</E> section on or before 45 days from date of publication. <E T="03">Public Hearings:</E> NHTSA will hold one virtual public hearing during the public comment period. The agency will announce the specific date and web address for the hearing in a supplemental <E T="04">Federal Register</E> notice. The agency will accept oral and written comments on the rulemaking documents and will also accept comments on the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (Draft SEIS) at this hearing. The hearing will start at 9 a.m. Eastern time and continue until everyone has had a chance to speak. See the <E T="02">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION</E> section on “Public Participation,” below, for more information about the public hearing. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> For access to the dockets or to read background documents or comments received, please visit <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov,</E> or Docket Management Facility, M-30, U.S. Department of Transportation, West Building, Ground Floor, Rm. W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590. The Docket Management Facility is open between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. Comments on the proposed information collection requirements should be submitted to: Office of Management and Budget at <E T="03">www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain.</E> To find this information collection, select “Currently under Review—Open for Public Comment” or use the search function. It is requested that comments sent to the OMB also be sent to the NHTSA rulemaking docket identified in the heading of this document. <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> For technical and policy issues, Joseph Bayer, CAFE Program Division Chief, Office of Rulemaking, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590; email: <E T="03">CAFE_Mbox@dot.gov.</E> For legal issues, Hannah Fish, NHTSA Office of Chief Counsel, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590; email: <E T="03">CAFE_Mbox@dot.gov.</E> </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <GPOTABLE COLS="2" OPTS="L2,i1" CDEF="s50,r150"> <TTITLE>Table of Acronyms and Abbreviations</TTITLE> <CHED H="1">Abbreviation</CHED> <CHED H="1">Term</CHED> <ROW> <ENT I="01">4WD</ENT> <ENT>Four Wheel Drive.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">AC</ENT> <ENT>Air conditioning.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">ACME</ENT> <ENT>Adaptive Cylinder Management Engine.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">ADEAC</ENT> <ENT>Advanced Cylinder Deactivation.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">ADEACD</ENT> <ENT>Advanced cylinder deactivation on a dual-overhead camshaft engine.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">ADEACS</ENT> <ENT>Advanced cylinder deactivation on a single overhead camshaft engine.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">ADSL</ENT> <ENT>Advanced Diesel Engine.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">AEB</ENT> <ENT>Automatic Emergency Braking.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">AEO</ENT> <ENT>Annual Energy Outlook.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">AER</ENT> <ENT>All-Electric Range.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">AERO</ENT> <ENT>Aerodynamic Drag Technology.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">AERO0</ENT> <ENT>Base Level Aerodynamic Drag Technology.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">AERO5</ENT> <ENT>Aerodynamic Drag, 5% Drag Coefficient Reduction.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">AERO10</ENT> <ENT>Aerodynamic Drag, 10% Drag Coefficient Reduction.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">AERO15</ENT> <ENT>Aerodynamic Drag, 15% Drag Coefficient Reduction.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">AERO20</ENT> <ENT>Aerodynamic Drag, 20% Drag Coefficient Reduction.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">AFV</ENT> <ENT>Alternative Fuel Vehicle.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">AHSS</ENT> <ENT>Advanced High Strength Steel.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">AIS</ENT> <ENT>Abbreviated Injury Scale.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">AMFA</ENT> <ENT>Alternative Motor Fuels Act of 1988.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">AMPC</ENT> <ENT>Advanced Manufacturing Production Tax Credit.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">AMTL</ENT> <ENT>Advanced Mobility Technology Laboratory.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">Argonne</ENT> <ENT>Argonne National Laboratory.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">ANSI</ENT> <ENT>American National Standards Institute.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">APA</ENT> <ENT>Administrative Procedure Act.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">AT</ENT> <ENT>Automatic Transmission.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">AWD</ENT> <ENT>All-Wheel Drive.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">BEV</ENT> <ENT>Battery Electric Vehicle.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">BGEPA</ENT> <ENT>Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">BISG</ENT> <ENT>Belt Integrated Starter Generator.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">BLS</ENT> <ENT>Bureau of Labor Statistics.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">BMEP</ENT> <ENT>Brake Mean Effective Pressure.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">BSD</ENT> <ENT>Blind Spot Detection.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">BSFC</ENT> <ENT>Brake-Specific Fuel Consumption.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">BTW</ENT> <ENT>Brake and Tire Wear.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">CAA</ENT> <ENT>Clean Air Act.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">CAFE</ENT> <ENT>Corporate Average Fuel Economy.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">CARB</ENT> <ENT>California Air Resources Board.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">CBI</ENT> <ENT>Confidential Business Information.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">CEGR</ENT> <ENT>Cooled Exhaust Gas Recirculation.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">CFR</ENT> <ENT>Code of Federal Regulations.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01"> CH <E T="52">4</E> <ENT>Methane.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">CNG</ENT> <ENT>Compressed Natural Gas.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01"> CO <E T="52">2</E> <ENT>Carbon Dioxide.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">COVID-19</ENT> <ENT>Coronavirus disease of 2019.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">CPM</ENT> <ENT>Cost Per Mile.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 1046k characters. 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