67068 Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 220 / Tuesday, November 16, 2004 / Rules and Regulations 

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(3) Previously approved on April 17, 

1987 in paragraph (c)(164)(i)(A)(1) of 

this section and now deleted without 

replacement Rules 504, 506, 519, and 

520.

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3, 1987 in paragraph (c)(168)(i)(A)(1) of 

this section and now deleted without 

replacement Rules 423 and 425.

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3, 1987 in paragraph (c)(168)(i)(E)(1) of 

this section and now deleted without 

replacement Rules 2.12 and 5.10.

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1989 in paragraph (c)(171)(i)(D)(1) of 

this section and now deleted without 

replacement Rules 2:10, 2:26, 2:27, and 

4:7.

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1989 in paragraph (c)(172)(i)(A)(1) of 

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replacement Rules 2.8 and 2.9.

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replacement Rules 204 and 210.

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1989 in paragraph (c)(175)(i)(A)(1) of 

this section and now deleted without 

replacement Rule 2:19.

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(3) Previously approved on April 17, 

1989 in paragraph (c)(175)(i)(B)(1) of 

this section and now deleted without 

replacement Rule 3:15.

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(4) Previously approved on April 16, 

1991 in paragraph (c)(175)(i)(D)(1) of 

this section and now deleted without 

replacement Rule 518.

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(5) Previously approved on November 

4, 1996 in paragraph (c)(179)(i)(E)(1) of 

this section and now deleted without 

replacement Rule 2.10.

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(11) Previously approved on May 13, 

1999 in paragraph (c)(184)(i)(B)(7) of 

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replacement Rules 214, 215, and 216.

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1999 in paragraph (c)(199)(i)(D)(6) of 

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(2) Previously approved on July 7, 

1997 in paragraph (c)(202)(i)(F)(1) of 

this section and now deleted without 

replacement Rule 3.1, paragraphs 403 

and 406.

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2001 in paragraph (c)(230)(i)(E)(1) of 

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replacement Rule 422.

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(2) Previously approved on June 28, 

1999 in paragraph (c)(262)(i)(A)(1) of 

this section and now deleted without 

replacement Regulation 1, Rules 402 

and 402.1.

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[FR Doc. 04–25398 Filed 11–15–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety 

Administration 

49 CFR Part 571

[Docket No. NHTSA 2004–19216] 

RIN 2127–AD08

Federal Motor Vehicle Safety 

Standards; Seating Systems

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic 

Safety Administration (NHTSA), DOT.

ACTION: Termination of rulemaking.

SUMMARY: This notice terminates a 

rulemaking proceeding to amend 

Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 

(FMVSS) No. 207, ‘‘Seating systems.’’

NHTSA is seeking to improve motor 

vehicle seat performance in rear 

impacts. The agency has conducted 

extensive physical testing of seat backs, 

computer modeling of seated occupants 

in rear impacts and dynamic testing of 

instrumented test dummies in vehicle 

seats. However, additional research and 

data analyses are needed to allow an 

informed decision on a rulemaking 

action in this area. Since the SemiAnnual Regulatory Agenda (Unified 

Agenda) is intended to provide the 

public with information on rulemaking 

actions to be taken in the next year or 

so, and since we do not anticipate being 

able to take rulemaking action in this 

area in that time frame, we are 

terminating rulemaking proceedings on 

this issue. Research into this area will 

continue as time and resources allow, 

particularly as it relates to the goal of 

unifying FMVSS No. 202, ‘‘Head 

restraints,’’ and FMVSS No. 207 into a 

single comprehensive rear impact 

protection standard.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

non-legal issues: Louis Molino, Office of 

Crashworthiness Standards, NVS–112, 

National Highway Traffic Safety 

Administration, 400 Seventh Street, 

SW., Washington, DC 20590. Telephone 

(202) 366–1833. Fax: (202) 366–4329. 

For legal issues: Eric Stas, Office of 

Chief Counsel, NCC–112, National 

Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 

400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, 

DC 20590. Telephone: (202) 366–2992. 

Fax: (202) 366–3820.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents 

I. Background 

II. Agency Activities 

III. Agency Rationale for Terminating 

Rulemaking

Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 220 / Tuesday, November 16, 2004 / Rules and Regulations 67069

1NHTSA Docket No. 74–13; Notice 1. 2 Docket No. 78–07; Notice 1.

3 Docket Management System NHTSA 1998–

4064–24.

4 Docket Management System NHTSA 1998–

4064–27.

5 Docket Management System NHTSA–1998–

4064–26.

6 Kleinberger M, Voo LM, Merkle A, Bevan M, 

Chang S: The Role of Seatback and Head Restraint 

Design Parameters on Rear Impact Occupant 

Dynamics. Proceedings of 18th International 

Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of 

Vehicles, Paper #18ESV–000229, Nagoya, Japan, 

May 19–22, 2003.

7 Voo LM, Merkle A, Wright J, and Kleinberger, 

M: Effect of Head-Restraint Rigidity on Whiplash 

Injury Risk. Proceedings of 2004 SAE World 

Congress, Paper #2004–01–0332, Detroit, MI, March 

8–11, 2004.

I. Background 

The agency’s rulemaking activity 

related to the upgrade of seat back 

strength dates back to 1974. On March 

19, 1974, NHTSA published a Notice of 

Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for 

FMVSS No. 207 in the Federal Register

(39 FR 10268).1 The NPRM proposed to: 

(1) Extend applicability of FMVSS No. 

202 to front seats in multipurpose 

passenger vehicles (MPVs) and light 

trucks, and bus driver seats 

manufactured after September 1, 1976; 

(2) establish barrier crash testing for 

cars, MPVs, and light trucks; and (3) 

consolidate FMVSS No. 202 with 

FMVSS No. 207 because of the 

relationship between head restraints 

and seats.

On March 16, 1978, NHTSA 

published a Federal Register notice 2

(43 FR 11100) that invited public 

comments on a draft plan for motor 

vehicle safety and fuel economy 

rulemaking over a five year period 

(1980–1984). It noted that there were 13 

active dockets for which actions had not 

been completed because limited 

resources were directed toward higher 

priority actions, the magnitude of the 

problem was not large, or NHTSA was 

unable to adequately document the 

nature and extent of the problem, and 

the notice stated that the agency 

contemplated terminating those actions. 

The NPRM to upgrade FMVSS No. 207 

and combine it with FMVSS No. 202 

was among those 13 actions. On April 

26, 1979, then-Administrator Claybrook 

signed and published the ‘‘Five Year 

Plan for Motor Vehicle and Fuel 

Economy Rulemaking, Calendar Years 

1980–1984’’ which confirmed the 

termination of the rulemaking for the 

FMVSS No. 207 upgrade and FMVSS 

No. 202 consolidation. Since 1989, 

NHTSA has granted four petitions 

related to seating system performance in 

rear impacts.

Improving seating system 

performance is more complex than 

simply increasing the strength of the 

seat back. A proper balance in seat back 

strength and compatible interaction 

with head restraints and seat belts must 

be obtained to optimize injury 

mitigation. Comprehensive information 

needed to determine that proper balance 

is not available, although there has been 

work on pieces of the problem. 

II. Agency Activities 

To remedy this, the agency has 

funded and/or performed research 

related to the issue of seat performance 

in rear impacts as priorities and 

resources have allowed. For example, 

NHTSA funded the University of 

Virginia to perform seat computer 

modeling to assess how changes in seat 

design might affect occupant kinematics 

in rear impacts.3 Similarly, EASi 

Engineering Inc., was awarded a multiyear contract to address design issues 

for an advanced seat.4 One of the 

parameters it assessed under that 

contract was rear seat performance. The 

agency itself performed static tests on 25 

different vehicle seat designs to 

determine their force deflection 

characteristics.5 More recently, NHTSA 

has funded dynamic sled testing of seats 

and seat mock-ups in simulated rear 

impacts at the Johns Hopkins Applied 

Physics Laboratory.6 7 In addition, over 

the past several years, the agency has 

added extra instrumentation to the test 

dummies and seats in vehicles tested 

under the FMVSS No. 301 rear impact 

compliance test program.

Through these programs, as well as 

through the work of other researchers 

outside the agency, we have improved 

our understanding of how seat 

performance affects rear impact 

occupant protection. Part of that 

understanding relates to how head 

restraints and seat backs work together. 

This understanding helped to guide the 

agency in formulating its proposal to 

upgrade FMVSS No. 202 (66 FR 968). As 

the agency developed that proposal, we 

kept in mind that our eventual goal is 

to evaluate the performance of head 

restraints and seat backs as a single 

system to protect occupants, just as they 

work in the real world, instead of 

evaluating their performance separately 

as individual components. 

III. Agency Rationale for Terminating 

Rulemaking 

Although the agency has a better 

understanding of the issues associated 

with seat performance in rear impacts at 

various speeds, further studies are 

needed to allow NHTSA to develop a 

proposed upgrade to FMVSS No. 207 

that will effectively balance seat back 

strength and interaction with other 

vehicle attributes. 

In addition, it continues to be a 

challenge to assess the potential benefits 

of regulatory strategies for improving 

seat performance in higher speed rear 

impacts. Although there is anecdotal 

evidence of occupant injury due to poor 

seat performance resulting in occupantto-occupant contact, contact with the 

vehicle interior, or even ejections, it 

remains a difficult task to assess the 

scope of this problem on a national 

level. According to the National 

Automotive Sampling System (NASS) 

Crashworthiness Data System (CDS), 

rear impacts represent about 8 percent 

of crashes severe enough to make it 

necessary for a vehicle to be towed from 

the crash scene. In comparison, frontal 

crashes represent 56 percent; side 

crashes, 26 percent; and rollover 

crashes, 8 percent (NASS annualized 

data 1992–2001). However, rear impacts 

cause less than two percent of moderateto-severe injuries. Similarly, the Fatality 

Analysis Reporting System (FARS) 

shows that about 3 percent of all traffic 

crash fatalities involved occupants of 

vehicles struck in the rear (FARS 

annualized data 1998–2002). Thus, in 

comparison to other crash modes, there 

is considerably less data available to 

assess the potential benefits of 

upgrading FMVSS No. 207 for higher 

speed rear impacts. The problem 

associated with the relatively small 

number of moderate-to-severe injuries 

in rear impacts is compounded by the 

difficulty in determining the extent to 

which those injuries can be attributed to 

seat performance. 

We have concluded that further study 

is needed to make a definitive 

determination of the relative merits of 

different potential rulemaking 

approaches in this area. Accordingly, 

we have decided that we should remove 

this rulemaking from the Semi-Annual 

Regulatory Agenda (Unified Agenda) 

because rulemaking action is not 

anticipated in the near future. However, 

the agency will continue to monitor 

issues related to rear impact protection, 

and specifically the performance of 

seats in this crash mode. Research into 

this area will continue as priorities 

allow, particularly as it relates to the 

goal of unifying FMVSS Nos. 202 and 

207 into a single comprehensive rear 

impact protection standard.

Authority: 49 U.S.C. 30162; delegations of 

authority at 49 CFR 1.50 and 49 CFR 501.8.

Issued on: November 9, 2004. 

Stephen R. Kratzke, 

Associate Administrator for Rulemaking.

[FR Doc. 04–25425 Filed 11–15–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–59–P