I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3164 

To require the Secretary of Transportation to issue a rule that requires 

all new passenger motor vehicles to be equipped with a child safety 

alert system, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 12, 2021 

Mr. RYAN (for himself and Ms. SCHAKOWSKY) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Transportation to issue a rule 

that requires all new passenger motor vehicles to be 

equipped with a child safety alert system, 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 ‘‘Hot Cars Act of 

5 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Children and pets left unattended in vehi2 cles, or children independently accessing unoccupied 

3 vehicles, are a significant public health and safety 

4 problem. 

5 (2) Millions of children are transported every 

6 day in the back seat of vehicles and are at risk of 

7 being unknowingly left behind and dying or suffering 

8 serious injuries from heatstroke. 

9 (3) Data collected by KidsAndCars.org found 

10 information about at least 8,000 children left alone 

11 in hot cars or as a result of gaining access independ12 ently into unoccupied cars between 1990 and 2020. 

13 Of those, over 990 children have been killed due to 

14 heatstroke and more than 1,200 children were in15 jured. 

16 (4) Over the past 30 years, child hot car deaths 

17 have continued to trend upwards despite widespread 

18 education programs and public awareness. 

19 (5) Inexpensive technology is currently available 

20 to detect the presence of an occupant unattended in 

21 a vehicle and engage a warning. 

22 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to reduce 

23 the deaths and injuries that result from occupants being 

24 left unattended in vehicles and instances in which children 

25 independently access an unoccupied vehicle. 


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1 SEC. 3. SAFETY WARNING FOR OCCUPANTS OF HOT CARS. 

2 (a) OCCUPANT SAFETY.— 

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter II of Chapter 

4 301 of title 49, United States Code, is amended by 

5 adding at the end the following new section: 

6 ‘‘§ 30129. Occupant safety 

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

8 ‘‘(1) PASSENGER MOTOR VEHICLE.—The term 

9 ‘passenger motor vehicle’ has the meaning given that 

10 term in section 32101. 

11 ‘‘(2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 

12 the Secretary of Transportation. 

13 ‘‘(b) RULEMAKING.—Not later than 2 years after the 

14 date of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall issue 

15 a final rule prescribing a motor vehicle safety standard 

16 that requires all new passenger motor vehicles with a gross 

17 vehicle weight rating of 10,000 pounds or less to be 

18 equipped with a system that detects the presence of an 

19 unattended occupant in the passenger compartment of the 

20 vehicle and engages a warning to reduce death and injury 

21 resulting from vehicular heatstroke, particularly incidents 

22 involving children. 

23 ‘‘(c) LIMITATION ON CAPABILITY OF BEING DIS24 ABLED.—The motor vehicle safety standard prescribed 

25 under subsection (b) shall require that the system de26 scribed in that subsection cannot be disabled, overridden, 


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1 reset, or recalibrated in such a way that the system will 

2 no longer detect the presence of an unattended occupant 

3 in the passenger compartment of the vehicle and engage 

4 a warning. 

5 ‘‘(d) MEANS.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The warning required 

7 under the motor vehicle safety standard prescribed 

8 under subsection (b) shall include a distinct auditory 

9 and visual warning to notify individuals inside and 

10 outside of the vehicle of the presence of an unat11 tended occupant, which shall be combined with an 

12 interior haptic warning. 

13 ‘‘(2) CONSIDERATION.—In developing such 

14 warning, the Secretary shall also consider including 

15 a secondary additional warning to— 

16 ‘‘(A) notify— 

17 ‘‘(i) operators that are not in close 

18 proximity to the vehicle; and 

19 ‘‘(ii) emergency responders; and 

20 ‘‘(B) provide the geographical location of 

21 the vehicle in a manner that allows for an emer22 gency response. 

23 ‘‘(e) COMPLIANCE DEADLINE.—The rule issued pur24 suant to subsection (b) shall require full compliance with 

25 the motor vehicle safety standard prescribed in the rule 


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1 not later than 2 years after the date on which the final 

2 rule is issued.’’. 

3 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec4 tions for subchapter II of chapter 301 of title 49, 

5 United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

6 end the following new item: 

‘‘30129. Occupant safety.’’. 

7 (b) STUDY.— 

8 (1) INDEPENDENT STUDY.— 

9 (A) CONTRACT.—Not later than 90 days 

10 after the date on which a final rule is issued 

11 pursuant to section 30129(b) of title 49, United 

12 States Code, as added by subsection (a)(1), and 

13 every two years thereafter, the Secretary shall 

14 enter into a contract with an independent third 

15 party to conduct the study described under sub16 paragraph (B). 

17 (B) STUDY.— 

18 (i) IN GENERAL.—Under the contract 

19 between the Secretary and an independent 

20 third party under subparagraph (A), the 

21 independent third party shall carry out a 

22 study on retrofitting passenger motor vehi23 cles introduced into interstate commerce 

24 before the effective date of the rule re25 quired pursuant to section 30129(b) of 


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1 title 49, United States Code, as added by 

2 subsection (a)(1), with technologies and 

3 products that meet the safety need ad4 dressed by the motor vehicle safety stand5 ard prescribed under such section. 

6 (ii) ELEMENTS.—In carrying out the 

7 study required under clause (i), the inde8 pendent third party shall— 

9 (I) identify technologies and 

10 products— 

11 (aa) manufactured for use in 

12 passenger motor vehicles intro13 duced into interstate commerce 

14 before the effective date of the 

15 rule required by section 30129(b) 

16 of title 49, United States Code, 

17 as added by subsection (a)(1); 

18 and 

19 (bb) that reduce death and 

20 injury resulting from vehicular 

21 heatstroke, particularly incidents 

22 involving children; and 

23 (II) make recommendations for 

24 manufacturers of such technologies 

25 and products to undergo a functional 


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1 safety performance assessment to en2 sure that the technologies and prod3 ucts perform as designed by the man4 ufacturer under a variety of real-world 

5 conditions. 

6 (2) PUBLICATION; PUBLIC COMMENT.—Not 

7 later than 2 years after the date on which the Sec8 retary enters into a contract pursuant to paragraph 

9 (1)(A), and every two years thereafter, the Secretary 

10 shall— 

11 (A) publish the study required under para12 graph (1)(B) in the Federal Register; and 

13 (B) provide a period for public comment of 

14 not longer than 90 days after the date on which 

15 the study is published pursuant to subpara16 graph (A). 

17 (3) CONSUMER INFORMATION.—Not later than 

18 120 days after expiration of the public comment pe19 riod described under paragraph (2)(B) and upon re20 view of the public comments, the Secretary shall pro21 vide information for consumers through the website 

22 of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administra23 tion on the performance of the technologies and 

24 products described in paragraph (1)(B)(ii) to retrofit 

25 existing vehicles. 


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1 (4) SUBMISSION TO CONGRESS.—Upon issuance 

2 of the recommendations required under paragraph 

3 (1)(B), the Secretary shall submit to the Committee 

4 on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 

5 Senate and the Committee on Energy and Com6 merce of the House of Representatives the study and 

7 recommendations required by paragraph (1)(B), in8 cluding any public comment received under para9 graph (2)(B). 

10 (5) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

11 (A) CHILD RESTRAINT SYSTEM.—The 

12 term ‘‘child restraint system’’ has the meaning 

13 given that term in section 571.213 of title 49, 

14 Code of Federal Regulations (or any successor 

15 regulation). 

16 (B) INDEPENDENT THIRD PARTY.—The 

17 term ‘‘independent third party’’ means a manu18 facturer (as defined in section 30102 of title 

19 49, Code of Federal Regulations (or any suc20 cessor regulation)) that does not receive any di21 rect financial assistance from an entity that 

22 produces or supplies— 

23 (i) equipment for the systems man24 dated in such section 30129; or 

25 (ii) child restraint systems. 


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1 (C) PASSENGER MOTOR VEHICLE.—The 

2 term ‘‘passenger motor vehicle’’ has the mean3 ing given that term in section 32101 of title 49, 

4 United States Code. 

5 (D) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 

6 means the Secretary of Transportation. 

Æ 


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