I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 607 

To direct the Secretary of Transportation to revise regulations relating to 

child restraint systems, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 27, 2023 

Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI (for himself, Ms. PORTER, Ms. BARRAGA ́N, Ms. 

BROWNLEY, Mr. SWALWELL, Mr. LARSEN of Washington, Ms. CASTOR

of Florida, and Ms. NORTON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Transportation to revise regulations relating to child restraint systems, 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 ‘‘Booster Seat Safety 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CHILD RESTRAINT SYSTEMS. 

7 (a) CHILD RESTRAINT SYSTEM LABELING.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.— 


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1 (A) REVISIONS REQUIRED.—Not later than 

2 90 days after the date of the enactment of this 

3 Act, the Secretary of Transportation shall re4 vise section 571.213 of title 49, Code of Federal 

5 Regulations— 

6 (i) in S5.5.2(f), by striking ‘‘13.6 kg’’ 

7 and inserting ‘‘18.2 kg’’; and 

8 (ii) by adding at the end of S5.5.2 the 

9 following: 

10 ‘‘(o) The packaging for each booster seat shall be per11 manently labeled with the information specified in 

12 S5.5.2(g). 

13 ‘‘(p) On each booster seat, and on the packaging of 

14 such booster seat, there shall be placed— 

15 ‘‘(1) a permanent label stating: ‘For use by 

16 children [l] years old or older and who are over 

17 [l] pounds.’, with respect to which— 

18 ‘‘(A) the first bracket is replaced with the 

19 minimum age recommended for a user, which 

20 may not be an age younger than 4 years old; 

21 and 

22 ‘‘(B) the second bracket is replaced with 

23 the minimum weight recommended for a user, 

24 which may not be under 40 pounds; and 


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1 ‘‘(2) a permanent label stating: ‘Strongly rec2 ommended children use this seat only when they 

3 reach either the height or weight limit for a child re4 straint system with internal harness as indicated by 

5 the manufacturer.’. 

6 ‘‘(q) On each child restraint system with internal har7 ness, and on the packaging of such child restraint system 

8 with internal harness, there shall be placed a permanent 

9 label stating: ‘To prevent possible injury or death, it is 

10 important to delay the transition from a child restraint 

11 system with internal harness to a booster seat as long as 

12 possible, until the child reaches the weight or height limit 

13 of the child restraint system with internal harness as indi14 cated by the manufacturer.’. 

15 ‘‘(r) On each combination car seat, there shall be 

16 placed a permanent label stating: ‘Please use this seat 

17 with the internal harness as long as possible, until your 

18 child outgrows the maximum weight of [l] or reaches the 

19 maximum height of [l]. Once they have exceeded such 

20 weight or height, this seat can be used as a belt posi21 tioning booster seat with the vehicle seat belt.’, with re22 spect to which— 

23 ‘‘(1) the first bracket is replaced with the max24 imum weight recommended for an internal harness 

25 user, which may not be under 40 pounds; and 


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1 ‘‘(2) the second bracket is replaced with the 

2 maximum height recommended for an internal har3 ness user.’’. 

4 (B) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The revisions to 

5 section 571.213 of title 49, Code of Federal 

6 Regulations, under subparagraph (A) shall take 

7 effect not later than 180 days after the date of 

8 the enactment of this Act. 

9 (2) MINIMUM HEIGHT LABELING REQUIREMENT

10 FOR BOOSTER SEATS.— 

11 (A) REVISIONS REQUIRED.—Not later than 

12 1 year after the date of the enactment of this 

13 Act, the Secretary of Transportation shall re14 vise section 571.213 of title 49, Code of Federal 

15 Regulations, so as to— 

16 (i) require the permanent label re17 quired by S5.5.2(p)(1) for a booster seat 

18 and the packaging of such booster seat to 

19 state the minimum height recommended 

20 for a user of such booster seat; and 

21 (ii) specify— 

22 (I) the minimum height required 

23 to be stated on such label; or 

24 (II) a method by which a manu25 facturer of a booster seat shall deterVerDate Sep 11 2014 16:17 Feb 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H607.IH H607

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1 mine the minimum height required to 

2 be stated on such label for such boost3 er seat. 

4 (B) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The revisions to 

5 section 571.213 of title 49, Code of Federal 

6 Regulations, under subparagraph (A) shall take 

7 effect on the date that is 1 year after the Sec8 retary of Transportation completes such revi9 sions. 

10 (b) SIDE-IMPACT CRASH TESTING.— 

11 (1) GENERAL STANDARDS.—Not later than 1 

12 year after the date of the enactment of this section, 

13 the Administrator shall issue regulations to establish 

14 standards with respect to side-impact crash testing 

15 for child restraint systems, which— 

16 (A) shall include standards for booster 

17 seats; and 

18 (B) may include the use of the most appro19 priate test dummy available at the time of such 

20 side-impact crash testing. 

21 (2) NEAR-SIDE AND FAR-SIDE IMPACT TEST22 ING.—In issuing regulations under paragraph (1), 

23 the Administrator shall include procedures for test24 ing— 


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1 (A) near-side impacts, in which the child 

2 restraint system being tested is positioned on 

3 the side of the point of impact; and 

4 (B) far-side impacts, in which the child re5 straint system being tested is positioned on the 

6 opposite side of the point of impact. 

7 (3) BOOSTER SEAT TEST DEVICES.— 

8 (A) DESIGN.—Not later than 18 months 

9 after the date of the enactment of this section, 

10 the Administrator shall issue regulations that 

11 provide guidelines for a test dummy that ap12 proximates a 6-year-old child for the purposes 

13 of side-impact crash testing. 

14 (B) USE.—Not later than 18 months after 

15 the date on which the Administrator issues reg16 ulations under subparagraph (A), the Adminis17 trator shall require that side-impact crash test18 ing for booster seats (for both near-side and 

19 far-side impacts) includes the use of a test 

20 dummy that meets the guidelines provided 

21 under subparagraph (A). 

22 (c) TETHER SYSTEMS STUDY.—Not later than 1 year 

23 after the date of the enactment of this section, the Admin24 istrator shall provide to Congress a study of the 

25 functionality of tether systems and the variability that exVerDate Sep 11 2014 16:17 Feb 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H607.IH H607

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1 ists in tether use recommendations by car seat and vehicle 

2 manufacturers, with recommendations on how such tether 

3 systems may be used or modified to increase the usage 

4 of child restraint systems with internal harness to maxi5 mize child safety. 

6 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

7 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis8 trator’’ means the Administrator of the National 

9 Highway Traffic Safety Administration. 

10 (2) BOOSTER SEAT.—The term ‘‘booster seat’’ 

11 has the meaning given such term in section 571.213 

12 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect 

13 on the date of the enactment of this section). 

14 (3) CHILD RESTRAINT SYSTEM.—The term 

15 ‘‘child restraint system’’ has the meaning given such 

16 term in section 571.213 of title 49, Code of Federal 

17 Regulations (as in effect on the date of the enact18 ment of this section). 

19 (4) CHILD RESTRAINT SYSTEM WITH INTERNAL

20 HARNESS.—The term ‘‘child restraint system with 

21 internal harness’’ means a child restraint system de22 signed to be used rear-facing or forward-facing em23 ploying a 5-point harness to position the child in the 

24 seat. 


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1 (5) COMBINATION CAR SEAT.—The term ‘‘com2 bination car seat’’— 

3 (A) means any child restraint system de4 signed to be used in a forward-facing position 

5 with a 5-point internal harness, where the har6 ness may be removed and the seat utilized as 

7 a belt-positioning booster seat; and 

8 (B) includes a child restraint system that 

9 may be— 

10 (i) converted between rear-facing with 

11 an internal harness and forward-facing 

12 with an internal harness; and 

13 (ii) commonly referred to as ‘‘3-in-1’’ 

14 or ‘‘all-in-1’’ seats. 

15 (6) TEST DUMMY.—The term ‘‘test dummy’’ 

16 means an anthropomorphic test dummy as such 

17 term is used in section 571.213 of title 49, Code of 

18 Federal Regulations (as in effect on the date of the 

19 enactment of this section). 

20 (7) TETHER SYSTEM.—The term ‘‘tether sys21 tem’’ means a system utilizing a tether anchorage, 

22 tether strap, and tether hook (as such terms are de23 fined in section 571.225 of title 49, Code of Federal 

24 Regulations). 

Æ 


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