The President's announcement brings to the marketplace the fruits of three and a half years of hard labor which started with the Blue Ribbon Panel's recommendation and continued with engineering innovations by vehicle and child safety seat manufacturers. An important aspect of the rule is a change in the head excursion requirement in crash tests of forward-facing child safety seats. This will result in the addition of a tether strap to secure the top of the child safety seat to the vehicle. The tether strap can eliminate compatibility problems in many existing vehicles and result in secure child safety seat installations. In anticipation of this new rule, child safety seat manufacturers have already begun producing seats with tether straps and attachment hardware.
Most vehicles built in the past decade have attachment points for tether hardware.
Some vehicle manufacturers currently provide attachment hardware through their dealers at no cost. Parents and caregivers should check their vehicle owners manual for attachment point and hardware information. New vehicles will be required to have the hardware pre-installed.