Opinion ID: 895280
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: FMVSS 208Federal Regulation of Seatbelts

Text: In 1971, NHTSA issued FMVSS 208, which governed occupant crash protection and mandated seatbelts in motorcoaches for the driver only. See id. § 571.208, S4.4.1. [5] Two years later, NHTSA issued a Notice of Proposed Rule Making addressing passenger seating in buses. Bus Passenger Seating and Crash Protection, 38 Fed.Reg. 4776 (Feb. 22, 1973) (to be codified at 49 C.F.R. pt. 571). NHTSA designed the proposed rules to protect bus passengers by requiring higher, stronger, and softer seats that contained the passengers during a crash. Id. In response to suggestions that seatbelts should be required, NHTSA proposed adding them as an alternate restraint system, replete with a detection system that warned the passenger and the driver of unfastened seatbelts. Id. The proposed rules were to affect all buses. The following year, however, NHTSA withdrew the proposed standard for motorcoaches, determining that seating requirements for intercity and transit buses were not justified from a cost/benefit standpoint, and that seatbelt-usage surveys in intercity buses indicated few passengers would utilize seatbelts if provided. See School Bus Passenger Crash Protection, 39 Fed.Reg. 27,585 (July 30, 1974). The NHTSA did indicate that it would propose standards in the future in this area if they are found desirable. Id. [6] MCI draws our attention to several other events of note. [7] In 1992, the chief counsel for NHTSA wrote a letter responding to an inquiry about New York legislation that would require seatbelts in motorcoaches. Letter from Paul Jackson Rice, Chief Counsel, NHTSA to C.N. Littler, Coordinator, Regulatory Affairs, Motor Coach Indus. (Aug. 19, 1992). He concluded that FMVSS 208 would preempt the New York legislation regarding, as relevant here, intercity buses weighing more than 10,000 pounds. He stated that NHTSA expressly determined that there is not a safety need for safety belts or another type of occupant crash protection at these [passenger] seating positions. In so opining, NHTSA's counsel expressly cited and relied upon the 1974 notice in which NHTSA withdrew its proposed standards for motorcoach seating and seatbelt standards, the latter because of low usage rates. In 2000, five years after the motorcoach here was built, NHTSA's acting administrator wrote a letter to the chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which had repeatedly asked NHTSA to study the desirability of seatbelt standards for motorcoaches, noting that motorcoach crashes killed about five people per year. Letter from Rosalyn G. Millman, Acting Adm'r, NHTSA, to Jim Hall, Chairman, NTSB (Mar. 3, 2000). Even so, NHTSA said it would explore ways to study the crashworthiness of motorcoaches, including the feasibility and safety of seatbelts, in association with their manufacturers. Two years later, NHTSA announced a joint public meeting with its Canadian counterpart, Transport Canada, regarding the safety of motorcoaches. See Notice of Public Meeting on Motorcoach Safety Improvements, 67 Fed.Reg. 14,903 (Mar. 28, 2002). NHTSA invited comment on several proposed safety improvements, including limiting the size of glazing materials, introducing roof crush safety standards, requiring side curtain airbags, and requiring seatbelts. Id. at 14,904-05. Finally, in 2007, NHTSA issued a report recommending passenger seatbelts in motorcoaches following research designed to determine the best performance standards for the seatbelt assembly and seat anchorages. See NHTSA, Docket 2007-28793, NHTSA's APPROACH TO MOTORCOACH SAFETY 12-14. Based on this report, the Department of Transportation issued an action plan for motorcoach safety, in which it proposed to begin rulemaking to require seatbelts in motorcoaches. See U.S. DEP'T OF TRANSP., MOTORCOACH SAFETY ACTION PLAN 5 (2009). In August 2010, NHTSA followed up by publishing a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that calls for three-point seatbelts for passenger seats in new motorcoaches. See Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Motorcoach Definition; Occupant Crash Protection, 75 Fed.Reg. 50,958 (Aug. 18, 2010) (to be codified at 49 C.F.R. pt. 571). [8]