Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Event Data Recorders |
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Heidi Renate King
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
8 February 2019
[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 27 (Friday, February 8, 2019)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 2804-2806]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-01651]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
49 CFR Part 563
[Docket No. NHTSA-2012-0177]
RIN 2127-AK86
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Event Data Recorders
AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
Department of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Proposed rule; withdrawal.
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SUMMARY: NHTSA withdraws its December 13, 2012 notice of proposed
rulemaking (NPRM) that proposed a new Federal motor vehicle safety
standard (FMVSS) mandating installation of an Event Data Recorder (EDR)
that meets NHTSA's current EDR standard in most light vehicles. At the
time NHTSA published the NPRM, the agency noted that a significant
number of light vehicles were being sold without EDRs, and said it
believed a mandate was needed. Today, EDRs are installed on nearly all
new light vehicles. In light of these changed circumstances, NHTSA
believes that a mandate for today's EDRs is no longer necessary and
withdrawal of the NPRM is therefore warranted.
DATES: The NPRM ``Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Event Data
Recorders,'' RIN 2127-AK86, published December 13, 2012 (77 FR 74144),
is withdrawn as of February 8, 2019.
ADDRESSES: Electronic Access: You can view and download related
documents and public comments by going to the website https://www.regulations.gov. Enter the docket number NHTSA-2012-0177 in the
search field.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For technical issues, contact Ms.
Carla Rush, Office of Crashworthiness Standards, Telephone: 202-366-
4583, Facsimile: 202-493-2739. For legal issues, contact Mr. Daniel
Koblenz, Office of Chief Counsel, Telephone: 202-366-2992, Facsimile:
202-366-3820. The mailing address for these officials is: National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration,
[[Page 2805]]
1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Event data recorders (EDRs) are an invaluable tool for aiding and
validating crash reconstruction, investigation, and analysis. An EDR is
a function or device installed in a motor vehicle to record technical
information about the status and operation of vehicle systems for a few
seconds immediately before and during a crash for the primary purpose
of post-crash assessment.\1\ EDRs are regulated under 49 CFR part 563.
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\1\ See 49 CFR 563.5.
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Part 563 was established on August 28, 2006 (71 FR 50998) and
requires that light vehicles \2\ equipped with EDRs meet certain
requirements for data elements, data capture and format, data
retrieval, and data crash survivability. An EDR as defined by Part 563
is not required to record data such as audio or video recordings and
does not log commercial operator-associated data, such as hours of
service.\3\
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\2\ As used in this notice, ``light vehicles'' includes
passenger cars, multipurpose passenger vehicles, trucks, and buses
with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 3,855 kilograms (kg)
(8,500 pounds) or less and an unloaded vehicle weight of 2,495 kg
(5,500 pounds) or less, except for walk-in van-type trucks or
vehicles designed to be sold exclusively to the U.S. Postal Service.
See 49 CFR part 563.3.
\3\ 49 CFR 563.5.
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The requirements of Part 563 apply only to those light vehicles
that are voluntarily equipped with EDRs that were manufactured on or
after September 1, 2012. In the 2006 rulemaking, NHTSA chose not to
mandate installation of EDRs in order to encourage voluntary
development and installation, while alleviating costs on manufacturers
and consumers. The agency stated at the time that the ``marketplace
appears to be adopting EDRs and we do not currently see a need to
mandate their installation.'' \4\
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\4\ 71 FR 50998, 51011 (Aug. 28, 2006).
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The NPRM
On December 13, 2012, NHTSA published a notice of proposed
rulemaking (NPRM) proposing to convert Part 563's ``if-installed''
requirements for EDRs into a new Federal motor vehicle safety standard
(FMVSS) mandating installation of EDRs in most light vehicles.\5\ The
NPRM did not propose making any changes to the current EDR regulation's
performance requirements, including those for the required data
elements. At the time that NHTSA issued the NPRM, the agency estimated
that about 92 percent of model year (MY) 2010 light vehicles had some
EDR capability. NHTSA believed that the universal installation of EDRs
would improve vehicle safety by aiding the agency in investigating
potential safety defects and developing new standards. Absent a
mandate, it appeared that manufacturers of the remaining 8 percent of
light vehicles would not equip those vehicles with EDRs. Thus, the
agency believed that a safety need existed to mandate the installation
of EDRs on light vehicles.
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\5\ 77 FR 74144 (Dec. 13, 2012).
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NHTSA Decision To Withdraw the NPRM
NHTSA has decided to withdraw the December 2012 NPRM because the
agency has determined that a mandate is not necessary at this time to
achieve the nearly universal installation of EDRs on new light
vehicles. This is because NHTSA's internal analysis shows that, for
Model Year (MY) 2017, 99.6 percent of new light vehicles sold were
equipped with EDRs that meet Part 563's requirements. Given the near-
universal installation of EDRs in light vehicles, NHTSA no longer
believes that the safety benefits of mandating EDRs justifies the
expenditure of limited agency resources.
Because NHTSA has determined not to move forward with a mandate for
EDRs at this time, the agency is withdrawing the December 2012 NPRM
from consideration. However, the agency will continue its other efforts
to modernize and improve EDRs regulations, including fulfilling the
agency's statutory mandate to promulgate regulations establishing an
appropriate recording duration for EDR data to ``provide accident
investigators with vehicle-related information pertinent to crashes
involving such motor vehicles.'' \6\ In addition, NHTSA is actively
investigating whether the agency should consider revising the data
elements covered by Part 563 to account for advanced safety features.
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\6\ See the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act
Public Law 114-94 (Dec. 4, 2015), Section 24303.
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Note on Comments on the NPRM
While NHTSA's decision to withdraw the NPRM was made for reasons
unrelated to the issues raised by commenters, the agency believes it
would be beneficial to the public to briefly describe and explain the
agency's views on some key concerns due to the large number of comments
received on them.
In response to the December 2012 NPRM, NHTSA received over 1,000
comments from a wide variety of commenters, including trade
associations, vehicle manufacturers, safety and privacy advocacy
groups, equipment suppliers, standards development organizations, crash
reconstructionists, attorney organizations, and over 950 individuals.
Safety advocacy organizations, crash reconstructionists, and several
other commenting organizations generally supported mandating the
installation of EDRs, citing the importance of the information for
vehicle safety. Vehicle manufacturers, equipment suppliers, and some
crash reconstructionists, were supportive of the idea of requiring
EDRs, but opposed placing the mandate and associated EDR requirements
in a FMVSS. In addition, a number of individuals also supported the
mandate, though many indicated that their support was conditional on
the adoption of provisions to protect the privacy of individuals. Other
commenters urged NHTSA to expand the list of required data elements in
order to better support traffic safety research and thus, improve the
safety of motor vehicles.
The majority of comments raised a variety of privacy concerns
associated with EDRs and the data they record. Many commenters seemed
to believe that Part 563 requires EDRs to extensively record
potentially sensitive driver-related information, such as vehicle
location or driving behavior, on an ongoing basis. This belief was
incorrect. The agency recognizes the importance of privacy to consumer
acceptance of technology and that the agency has a legal obligation to
assess and be transparent about the impacts of Federal activities on
individual privacy.\7\ Part 563 requires only that EDRs capture a
narrow set of data elements that are designed to assist investigators
with the reconstruction of crashes, such as data relating to the
operational status of the vehicle at the time of the crash.\8\
Moreover, Part 563 requires that EDRs capture this data to the device
or function only for the few seconds leading up to a rare event, the
deployment of air bags, (i.e., not on an ongoing basis).
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\7\ See E-Government Act of 2002, Public Law 107-347, 208, 116
Stat. 2899, 2921-23; Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005, Public
Law 108-447, Sec. 522, 118 Stat. 2809, 3268-69.
\8\ 49 CFR 563, Tables I & II.
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Second, many commenters expressed concerns with regard to who owns
EDR data, who has access to EDR data and under what circumstances, and
the purposes for which it may be used. NHTSA believes that Congress
resolved many of these concerns when it enacted
[[Page 2806]]
the Driver Privacy Act of 2015 (DPA), part of the Fixing America's
Surface Transportation (FAST) Act,\9\ which addresses issues of EDR
data ownership and access. Specifically, the DPA states that EDR data
are the ``property of the owner, or, in the case of a leased vehicle,
the lessee of the motor vehicle in which the event data recorder is
installed.'' \10\ It also specifies that data recorded or transmitted
by an EDR is accessible only to the vehicle owner or lessee, unless
access falls into one of several enumerated exceptions.\11\
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\9\ Public Law 114-94, Sec. Sec. 24301-24302, 129 Stat. 1312,
1713-14 (2015).
\10\ Id.
\11\ See id.
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Finally, many of the privacy-related comments requested that NHTSA
mandate consumer notification of the existence of EDRs. NHTSA agrees
with commenters that ensuring consumer awareness is an important goal.
A vital tool the agency uses to inform consumers about the existence
and function of various aspects of motor vehicles, including the
existence of and function of EDRs, is the owner's manual that
accompanies motor vehicles sold in the U.S. Part 563 currently requires
that vehicle manufacturers that choose to equip their vehicles with
EDRs include a standardized statement in the owner's manual indicating
that the vehicle is equipped with an EDR and describing the functions
and capabilities of the EDR.\12\
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\12\ 49 CFR 563.11.
Issued on February 5, 2019 in Washington, DC, under authority
delegated in 49 CFR 1.95 and 501.5.
Heidi Renate King,
Deputy Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2019-01651 Filed 2-7-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P