NHTSA's New Head Protection Rule Puts New Technology on Fast Track |
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Topics: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards
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NHTSA
July 30, 1998
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NHTSA 37-98
July 30, 1998
Contact: Tim Hurd
Tel. No. (202) 366-9550
To enable the automobile manufacturing industry to quickly bring new, life-saving technology to the marketplace, U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater today announced a final rule amending the department's landmark head injury protection safety standard.
"This change will enable new car manufacturers to bring lifesaving technology quickly to motorists, thus saving lives and preventing injuries," Secretary Slater said. "The department's action is a direct result of President Clinton's commitment to safety as the highest transportation priority and to responsiveness in government."
These changes to the upper head protection requirements of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 201 permit automakers to install dynamically deploying interior head protection systems that will provide additional safety in side-impact crashes.
"These revisions should improve overall motor vehicle safety by a significant margin, especially in more serious crashes," NHTSA Administrator Ricardo Martinez, M.D., said.
The systems are known as "Head Protection Systems" and "Inflatable Curtains," and will be marketed under other names in the future. They are air bag-like devices designed to deploy during side impacts to provide extra head protection. The devices also may reduce the possibility of being ejected from a vehicle.
In recent years, about 2,400 occupants of light vehicles have been killed and 60,000 have been injured each year in crashes that cause their heads to strike pillars, side rails, headers and other upper interior components.
The head protection standard was hailed in 1995 as the most significant new safety rule in a decade. NHTSA estimated that each year the rule would save up to 1,200 lives, prevent up to 975 serious head injuries and provide an annual economic benefit of $900 million.
As adopted in 1995, FMVSS 201 upper head injury requirements are being phased in over five years beginning with the 1999 model year. During the first year, beginning Sept. 1, 1998, 10 percent of each manufacturer's vehicles must comply; beginning Sept. 1, 1999, 25 percent; beginning Sept. 1, 2000, 40 percent; and beginning Sept. 1, 2001, 70 percent. All vehicles manufactured beginning Sept. 1, 2002, must comply.
Most automakers plan to use increased padding to comply with the standard, but some have chosen to use dynamically deploying head protection systems. It was necessary for NHTSA to amend the original head protection standard to accommodate those plans.
Vehicles equipped with such dynamic systems will have to comply with a new test in which the vehicle is crashed into a pole to make sure that the systems provide additional protection. NHTSA also is introducing a new side impact crash dummy that will be used in this new pole test.
NHTSA estimates that, depending on the number of vehicles on which they are introduced, the new dynamic head protection systems can prevent as many as 250 additional fatalities each year beyond the savings from the original upper interior head protection rule.
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