II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4121 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to require the Secretary of Transportation to establish a motor vehicle recall assistance program, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 1, 2020 

Mr. BLUMENTHAL (for Mr. MARKEY (for himself and Mr. BLUMENTHAL)) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to require the Secretary of Transportation to establish a motor vehicle 

recall assistance program, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Promoting Auto Re5 calls Toward Safety Act of 2020’’ or the ‘‘PARTS Act 

6 of 2020’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. MOTOR VEHICLE RECALL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter II of chapter 301 of 

3 title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

4 end the following: 

5 ‘‘§ 30129. Motor vehicle recall assistance program 

6 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

7 ‘‘(1) OPEN RECALL.—The term ‘open recall’ 

8 means a motor vehicle recall— 

9 ‘‘(A) for which a notification by a manu10 facturer has been provided under section 

11 30119; and 

12 ‘‘(B) that has not been remedied under 

13 section 30120. 

14 ‘‘(2) REGISTRATION.—The term ‘registration’ 

15 means the process for registering a motor vehicle in 

16 a State (including registration renewal). 

17 ‘‘(3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 

18 the Secretary of Transportation. 

19 ‘‘(b) PROGRAM.— 

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years 

21 after the date of enactment of this section, the Sec22 retary shall establish a program under which the 

23 Secretary shall provide grants and other assistance, 

24 including technical assistance, to States in informing 

25 owners and lessees of a motor vehicle about open reVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:47 Jul 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4121.IS S4121

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1 calls on the motor vehicle at the time of registration 

2 of the motor vehicle in the State. 

3 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to receive as4 sistance under this subsection, a State shall— 

5 ‘‘(A) submit to the Secretary an applica6 tion at such time, in such manner, and con7 taining such information as the Secretary may 

8 require; and 

9 ‘‘(B) agree— 

10 ‘‘(i) to notify each owner or lessee of 

11 a motor vehicle presented for registration 

12 in the State of any open recall on that 

13 motor vehicle; and 

14 ‘‘(ii) to provide to each owner or les15 see of the motor vehicle presented for reg16 istration— 

17 ‘‘(I) the open recall information 

18 for the motor vehicle at no cost; and 

19 ‘‘(II) such other information as 

20 the Secretary may require. 

21 ‘‘(3) FACTORS FOR CONSIDERATION.—In select22 ing recipients for assistance under this subsection, 

23 the Secretary shall take into consideration the meth24 odology of a State for— 


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1 ‘‘(A) identifying open recalls on a motor 

2 vehicle; 

3 ‘‘(B) informing the owner or lessee of a 

4 motor vehicle of an open recall; and 

5 ‘‘(C) measuring performance in— 

6 ‘‘(i) informing owners and lessees 

7 about open recalls; and 

8 ‘‘(ii) remedying open recalls. 

9 ‘‘(4) GRANTS.— 

10 ‘‘(A) LIMITATION.—A State may receive 

11 not more than 1 grant under this subsection. 

12 ‘‘(B) PERFORMANCE PERIOD.—A grant 

13 provided under this subsection shall require a 

14 performance period of 2 years. 

15 ‘‘(5) REPORT TO THE SECRETARY.—Not later 

16 than 90 days after the date of completion of the per17 formance period under paragraph (4)(B), each State 

18 that receives a grant under this subsection shall sub19 mit to the Secretary a performance report that con20 tains such information as the Secretary considers to 

21 be necessary— 

22 ‘‘(A) to evaluate the extent to which open 

23 recalls have been remedied in the State; and 

24 ‘‘(B) to enable a comparison of— 


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1 ‘‘(i) recall completion under this sub2 section; and 

3 ‘‘(ii) existing recall completion data. 

4 ‘‘(6) EVALUATION AND REPORT TO CON5 GRESS.—Not later than 180 days after the date on 

6 which the Secretary receives from a State a perform7 ance report under paragraph (5), the Secretary 

8 shall— 

9 ‘‘(A) evaluate the extent to which open re10 calls have been remedied in the State; and 

11 ‘‘(B) submit to the Committee on Com12 merce, Science, and Transportation of the Sen13 ate and the Committee on Transportation and 

14 Infrastructure of the House of Representatives 

15 and make publicly available a report describing 

16 the results of the evaluation under subpara17 graph (A).’’. 

18 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The analysis for sub19 chapter II of chapter 301 of title 49, United States Code, 

20 is amended by striking the item relating to section 30128 

21 and inserting the following: 

‘‘30128. Vehicle rollover prevention and crash mitigation. 

‘‘30129. Motor vehicle recall assistance program.’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. RECALL COMPLETION REPORTS AND SCORECARD. 

2 (a) REPORTS ON NOTIFICATION CAMPAIGNS.—Sec3 tion 30118 of title 49, United States Code, is amended 

4 by adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘(f) REPORTS ON NOTIFICATION CAMPAIGNS.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each manufacturer that is 

7 conducting a campaign under subsection (b) or (c), 

8 or any other law (including regulations), to notify 

9 manufacturers, distributors, owners, purchasers, or 

10 dealers of a defect or noncompliance shall submit to 

11 the Administrator of the National Highway Traffic 

12 Safety Administration— 

13 ‘‘(A) by the applicable date described in 

14 section 573.7(d) of title 49, Code of Federal 

15 Regulations (or a successor regulation), a quar16 terly report on the campaign for each of 8 con17 secutive quarters, beginning with the quarter in 

18 which the campaign was initiated; and 

19 ‘‘(B) an annual report for each of the 3 

20 years following completion of the last quarter 

21 for which a quarterly report is submitted under 

22 subparagraph (A). 

23 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—Except as otherwise 

24 provided in this subsection, each report under this 

25 subsection shall comply with the requirements of 


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1 section 573.7 of title 49, Code of Federal Regula2 tions (or a successor regulation).’’. 

3 (b) SCORECARD AND NOTIFICATION TO OWNERS AND

4 LESSEES OF UNREMEDIED VEHICLES.—Section 30120 of 

5 title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

6 end the following: 

7 ‘‘(k) RECALL REMEDY SCORECARD.— 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the 

9 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 

10 shall publish an annual scorecard of recall comple11 tion rates for each manufacturer submitting a report 

12 under section 30118(f) during the year covered by 

13 the scorecard. 

14 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENT.—The annual scorecard 

15 under paragraph (1) shall include— 

16 ‘‘(A) for each manufacturer submitting a 

17 report under section 30118(f) during the year 

18 covered by the scorecard— 

19 ‘‘(i) the total number of— 

20 ‘‘(I) recalls issued by the manu21 facturer during the year covered by 

22 the scorecard; and 

23 ‘‘(II) vehicles of the manufac24 turer subject to a recall during the 

25 year covered by the scorecard; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) the percentage of vehicles of the 

2 manufacturer that— 

3 ‘‘(I) were subject to a recall at 

4 any time during the year covered by 

5 the scorecard; and 

6 ‘‘(II) have been remedied under 

7 this section; and 

8 ‘‘(B) for each campaign that is the subject 

9 of a report submitted under section 30118(f) 

10 during the year covered by the scorecard— 

11 ‘‘(i) the total number of recalls issued 

12 by the manufacturer pursuant to the cam13 paign— 

14 ‘‘(I) during the year covered by 

15 the scorecard; and 

16 ‘‘(II) since the date on which the 

17 campaign was initiated; 

18 ‘‘(ii) the total number of vehicles of 

19 the manufacturer subject to the cam20 paign— 

21 ‘‘(I) during the year covered by 

22 the scorecard; and 

23 ‘‘(II) since the date on which the 

24 campaign was initiated; and 


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1 ‘‘(iii) the percentage of vehicles sub2 ject to the campaign that have been rem3 edied under this section— 

4 ‘‘(I) during the year covered by 

5 the scorecard; and 

6 ‘‘(II) since the date on which the 

7 campaign was initiated.’’. 

Æ 


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