[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 1 (Monday, January 4, 2021)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 47-48]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-29111]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

49 CFR Part 571

[Docket No. NHTSA-2020-0093]
RIN 2127-AL34


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

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 
Department of Transportation (DOT).

ACTION: Proposed rule; extension of comment period.

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SUMMARY: NHTSA has received petitions asking the Agency to extend the 
comment period for a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to update 
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 213, ``Child 
restraint systems.'' The NPRM proposed to incorporate a new test sled 
assembly to conduct compliance tests of child restraints and update a 
number of the test procedures of the standard. The comment period for 
the NPRM is scheduled to end on January 4, 2021. In response to 
petitions from the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association and the 
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, the Agency is extending the 
comment period by 90 days.

DATES: The comment period for the NPRM published on November 2, 2020, 
at 85 FR 69388, is extended to April 5, 2021.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments to the docket number identified in 
the heading of this document by any of the following methods:
    <bullet> Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting 
comments.
    <bullet> Mail: 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.
    <bullet> Hand Delivery or Courier: West Building, Ground Floor, 
Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. 
Eastern Time, Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. To be 
sure someone is there to help you, please call (202) 366-9332 before 
coming.
    <bullet> Fax: 202-493-2251.
    Regardless of how you submit your comments, please mention the 
docket number identified in the heading of this document.
    Instructions: For detailed instructions on submitting comments and 
additional information on the rulemaking process, see the Public 
Participation heading of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this 
document. Note that all comments received will be posted without change 
to http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information 
provided.
    Privacy Act: In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 553(c), DOT solicits 
comments from the public to better inform its decision-making process. 
DOT posts these comments, without edit, including any personal 
information the commenter provides, to www.regulations.gov, as 
described in the system of records notice (DOT/ALL-14 FDMS), which can 
be reviewed at www.transportation.gov/privacy. In order to facilitate 
comment tracking and response, the Agency encourages commenters to 
provide their name, or the name of their organization; however, 
submission of names is completely optional. Whether or not commenters 
identify themselves, all timely comments will be fully considered.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received, go to www.regulations.gov, or the street address 
listed above. To be sure someone is there to help you, please call 
(202) 366-9332 before coming. Follow the online instructions for 
accessing the dockets.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For technical issues, you may call 
Cristina Echemendia, Office of Crashworthiness Standards (telephone: 
202-366-6345) (fax: 202-493-2990). For legal issues, you may call 
Deirdre Fujita, Office of Chief Counsel (telephone: 202-366-5246) (fax: 
202-366-3820). Address: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 
U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West 
Building, Washington, DC 20590.

[[Page 48]]


SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 31501(b) of the Moving Ahead for 
Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) requires the Secretary 
(NHTSA, by delegation) to commence and complete a rulemaking to amend 
the standard seat assembly in FMVSS No. 213 to better simulate a single 
representative motor vehicle rear seat. Pursuant to this mandate, on 
November 2, 2020, NHTSA published an NPRM proposing to amend FMVSS No. 
213 by updating the standard seat assembly NHTSA uses to test child 
restraint systems (CRSs) for compliance with the standard's dynamic 
performance requirements. This NPRM proposed other amendments to 
modernize FMVSS No. 213, including ways to streamline the Agency's use 
of test dummies to assess restraint performance. NHTSA provided a 60-
day comment period for the November 2, 2020 proposal, which closes on 
January 4, 2021.

Petitions

    The Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JPMA), 
representing manufacturers of child restraint systems, submitted a 
petition on December 14, 2020 requesting a 120-day extension of the 
comment period for the November 2, 2020 NPRM.\1\ JPMA provided several 
reasons for extending the comment period, including the need for social 
distancing and restrictions on businesses due to the public health 
emergency, the delay in public release of the drawing package for the 
standard seat assembly referenced by the NPRM, and the plans of some 
manufacturers to evaluate the proposed standard seat assembly by 
fabricating and evaluating the assembly for repeatability and 
reproducibility of results with the child restraint models they 
produce. JPMA stated that the original 60-day comment period does not 
adequately reflect the time necessary for manufacturers to evaluate the 
potential implications of the NPRM thoroughly and to provide 
constructive feedback to NHTSA. They argued that the proposed changes 
are extensive, and evaluation of the changes requires the fabrication 
of standard seat assemblies, which JPMA said would take 8 to 16 weeks 
for delivery to the testing facilities. JPMA stated that ``[w]ithout 
the ability to inspect, fully evaluate and conduct comparative testing 
using this new bench, particularly in regard to its repeatability and 
reproducibility characteristics, our CRS manufacturing members are 
seriously limited in their ability to comment in the time period 
prescribed in the current NPRM.''
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    \1\ JPMA requested that ``the comment period be extended to 180 
days from the date of publication'' of the NPRM. NHTSA understands 
this request to include the 60 days provided by the NPRM, which 
means JPMA is requesting a 120-day extension.
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    On December 11, 2020, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia 
(CHOP) submitted a petition to extend the comment period. CHOP did not 
specify the additional time sought but argued that remote teleworking 
and competing work due to the public health emergency has created 
challenges to gather all the individuals and relevant data to draft a 
response.

Agency Decision

    In accordance with NHTSA's rulemaking procedures in 49 CFR part 
553, subpart B, the Agency is granting the petitioners' requests to 
extend the comment period, but is extending it only for 90 days. NHTSA 
has determined that the petitioners have shown good cause for an 
extension, and that the extension is consistent with the public 
interest (49 CFR 553.19). Entities seeking to build the proposed 
standard seat assembly need time to procure materials and fabricate the 
assembly. NHTSA typically procures test seat assemblies in 6 to 8 
weeks, but understand that it may take longer to obtain the seat 
assembly discussed in the NPRM due to possible customer demand, the 
time needed to procure the seat foam (8-12 weeks), and the business 
restrictions caused by the public health emergency. However, JPMA has 
not provided any basis explaining why it would take 8 to 16 weeks, 
almost twice the normal time, to procure the assembly. Without a 
reasoned explanation for the exceptionally long period, we conclude a 
120-day extension is unwarranted and unduly delays the rulemaking.
    In considering the petitions, NHTSA weighed the statutory interest 
in completing this rulemaking, the complexity and importance of the 
rulemaking, and the basis for the requests. The 3-dimensional drawings 
of the standard seat assembly were made public on November 16, 2020.\2\ 
Based on an 8 to 12-week lead time for fabrication and delivery of the 
proposed seat assembly, NHTSA estimates entities could acquire the 
proposed seat assembly for evaluation between mid-January and early 
February 2021. A 90-day extension of the comment period provides 
sufficient time following procurement of the seat assembly for 
interested persons to test CRSs, analyze results, and prepare comments. 
Therefore, NHTSA partially grants the requests for extending the 
comment period by extending it for 90 days.
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    \2\ JPMA incorrectly stated the publishing date was November 9, 
2020.
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    The Agency supports efforts to develop useful technical information 
on the proposal and believes 90 additional days will achieve that 
result. Extending the comment period 90 days balances the need to 
provide more time to entities to assess the proposal with the need to 
incorporate a representative vehicle seat in FMVSS No. 213 compliance 
tests expeditiously. Incorporating a representative vehicle seat in 
FMVSS No. 213 will provide a more meaningful assessment of the 
performance of CRSs in vehicles on the road today.
    Please note that even after the comment closing date has passed, 
interested persons are able to file comments in the docket, which NHTSA 
will consider to the extent practicable. 49 CFR 553.23. NHTSA may also 
continue to file relevant information in the docket as it becomes 
available. Accordingly, the Agency recommends that readers periodically 
check the docket for new material.

    Authority: 49 U.S.C. 322, 30111, 30115, 30117, and 30166; 
delegation of authority at 49 CFR 1.95 and 49 CFR 501.8.

    Issued in Washington, DC, under authority delegated in 49 CFR 
1.95 and 501.8.
James C. Owens,
Deputy Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2020-29111 Filed 12-30-20; 11:15 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P