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October 22, 2007

Docket Management Facility

U.S. Department of Transportation

1200 New Jersey Avenue, S E

West Building Ground Floor -- Room W12-140

Washington, DC 20590-0001

Gentlemen:

The Automotive Occupant Restraints Council (AORC) is pleased to have the
opportunity to submit comments to the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration's (NHTSA) recently published Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking (Docket NHTSA-2007-28710).

The AORC is an industry association of 50 suppliers of occupant
restraints, components/materials and services to the automobile
industry. The mission of the Council is to reduce highway casualties and
injuries by providing the motoring public with reliable and effective
occupant restraint systems, components and services, and to promote
public acceptance and proper use of their restraint systems.

Regarding the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking of September 25, 2007
(Federal Register Vol. 72, No. 185), the AORC commends the agency's
initiative to update the child restraint systems (CRS) listed in
Appendix A of FMVSS 208. The age and diminished availability of the
seats in the current Appendix A has rendered these seats no longer
adequately representative of the population of CRS in use today. It also
has placed a burden on the ability of vehicle manufacturers to
demonstrate compliance to FMVSS 208.

The AORC endorses the process that the agency has used to determine
which new seats should be added to the Appendix (shown in Table 1) and
agrees with the stated rationale for the noted deletions. The AORC does
note some confusion regarding the proposed Evenflo Generations CRS. It
is listed in Table 1 as a "convertible" model. Our understanding is that
this seat is forward facing only.

However, the AORC strongly feels that the proposed changes, as shown in
Table 1, are incomplete. We feel that every seat in the current Appendix
A should be deleted for much the same reasons that NHTSA has stated for
the partial deletion list. None of the seats in the present Appendix A
is currently manufactured. It was noted in the Final Rule of November
19, 2003 that the typical recommendation by CRS manufacturers is a 6
year life in the field. Most of the present Appendix A seats have been
discontinued for over five years. By the time this final rule goes into
effect, the currently listed seats in Appendix A will have little
presence in the field. The AORC agrees with the additional proposed
revisions shown in Table 2. However, there are several CRS in the
current Appendix A that are not addressed in Tables 1 or 2. The entire
group of Appendix A seats needs to be replaced with a currently
available model or simply deleted.

The AORC would like to see the NHTSA set a period of not more than three
years to re-assess the Appendix. We agree with the rationale offered by
the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers Petition for Rulemaking to
Amend FMVSS 208, on April 27, 2007. The Alliance suggested that three
years is a reasonable balance of maintaining a representative collection
of CRS and the task of re-certifying vehicles to a revised list. The
criteria for revising the CRS list, in addition to that offered in the
NPRM, should include consideration for any recalled models.

The AORC, as a result of evaluating retail store inventory and though
exchanges with CRS manufactures, has observed that CRS models are
frequently revised in essentially cosmetic areas (color, fabric, etc)
and then sold under a new model name and/or number.  Specific models may
be phased out by the CRS manufacturer and replaced by a nearly identical
CRS. The AORC urges the agency to work with the CRS manufacturers to
publish an update "Bulletin" annually which lists suitable equivalent
model numbers and/or names to those listed in Appendix A.  This would
provide a means to keep the Appendix A CRS list meaningful without
creating the burden of completing a full regulation update annually and
necessitating re-certification of vehicles. 

The AORC is concerned that CRS manufacturers may make changes to CRS
listed in Appendix A that could affect performance with either
suppression systems or the Low Risk Deployment option in FMVSS 208. The
AORC has observed changes to the structural shells of several of the
current CRS in Appendix A, while maintaining the same model designation.
The CRS test devices specified in the regulation may be subject to
revisions independent of NHTSA advisement. This presents the potential
for FMVSS 208 compliance to an early version of a specific CRS, which
then receives a design change (under the same model designation),
sufficient to affect compliance. The AORC proposes adding a statement to
the regulation that addresses this potential occurrence. It is suggested
that this type of occurrence would not constitute non-compliance with
the regulation, provided that it could be demonstrated to the agency the
effect of the design change on performance to the FMVSS 208 regulation.

The AORC would like to further recommend that NHTSA consider adopting a
formal "model" designation system for CRS in FMVSS 213. Section S5.5(a)
of FMVSS 213 currently requires a model name to be place on a label on
the CRS. However, there is no requirement regarding what the model
designation consists of. Such a model designation system could be based
on that currently in FMVSS 209 S4.1(j), which requires:

\(j\) *Marking.* Each seat belt assembly shall be permanently and
legibly marked or labeled with year of manufacture, model, and name or
trademark of manufacturer or distributor, or of importer if manufactured
outside the United States. A model shall consist of a single combination
of webbing having a specific type of fiber weave and construction, and
hardware having a specific design. Webbings of various colors may be
included under the same model...

A similar such section in FMVSS 213 could read, for example,

> *Marking.* Each CRS shall be permanently and legibly marked or labeled
> with year of manufacture, model, and name or trademark of manufacturer
> or distributor, or of importer if manufactured outside the United
> States. A model shall consist of a single combination of shell, base,
> harness, and vehicle attachment hardware/provisions/routing having a
> specific design. Webbing and seat upholstery of various colors may be
> included under the same model...

The adoption of a formal model designation system may address the issues
we have raised about revisions to CRS.

The AORC strongly recommends that the aency replace all of the current
Appendix A CRS at the release of the Final Rule using the criteria
offered in the NPRM for selecting new models.

We thank the NHTSA for the opportunity to submit these comments.

Sincerely,

![](media/image2.wmf){width="2.670138888888889in"
height="0.6833333333333333in"}

George F. Kirchoff,

President,

Automotive Occupant Restraints Council