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Steven S. Cliff Category: Person Wikipedia: Steven Cliff Description: Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration beginning in 2022. Page Sections: Biography · Article Index 
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The following section is from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as updated 9 June 2022.
Dr. Steven Cliff, Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, oversees the nation’s vehicle safety agency that sets vehicle safety standards, identifies safety defects and manages recalls, and educates Americans to help them drive, ride, and walk safely. NHTSA’s work also includes establishing fuel economy regulations and helping facilitate the testing and deployment of advanced vehicle technologies. The agency has a budget of more than $1 billion and more than 600 full-time employees across the country.
Cliff brings an extensive scientific and regulatory background to his leadership role at NHTSA. Most recently, he served as the deputy executive officer at the California Air Resources Board, an organization he first joined in 2008 as an air pollution specialist. Since then, he held a variety of positions at CARB, eventually overseeing its climate program. From 2014 to 2016, Cliff joined the California Department of Transportation as the assistant director for sustainability. He returned to CARB in 2016 when then-Governor Jerry Brown of California appointed him senior advisor to CARB’s board chair.
Cliff’s most recent work as deputy executive officer at CARB included program oversight of regulations for passenger vehicle emissions, medium- and heavy-duty engine emissions, implementation of vehicle and engine emissions and on-board diagnostics certification, transportation land-use planning and analysis, and incentive and investment programs for reducing emissions. He worked with environmental and equity advocates, senior industry officials, association representatives, and other stakeholders on program development.
Cliff played an active role at the University of California, Davis for nearly two decades. In 2001, he joined the school’s Applied Sciences department as a research professor, later becoming affiliated with the school’s Air Quality Research Center. Through the years, he has supported independent air quality and climate research programs while balancing his time at CARB, including being an approved program coordinator at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Advanced Light Source.
Cliff received a bachelor’s degree and doctorate in chemistry from the University of California, San Diego. He then completed a postdoc on atmospheric sciences at the University of California, Davis’ Department of Land, Air and Water Resources.
| Date | Article | Details |
|---|---|---|
| 22 November 2021 | Anthropomorphic Test Devices; Q3s 3-Year-Old Child Side Impact Test Dummy; Incorporation by Reference This document responds to a petition for reconsideration from Humanetics Innovative Solutions Inc. concerning a 2020 final rule that amended NHTSA's regulation on anthropomorphic test devices to add design and performance specifications for a test dummy representing a 3-year-old child, called the “Q3s” test dummy. | Federal Register Notice  (text)Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Byline: Steven Cliff |
| 29 December 2021 | Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) Preemption This document finalizes NHTSA’s proposal to repeal in full “The Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient Vehicles Rule Part One: One National Program,” in which NHTSA codified regulatory text and made additional pronouncements regarding the preemption of state and local laws related to fuel economy standards. | Federal Register Notice ( PDF)Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Byline: Steven S. Cliff |
| 29 December 2021 | Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Bus Rollover Structural Integrity NHTSA is issuing this final rule to establish Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 227, “Bus rollover structural integrity,” to enhance the rollover structural integrity of over-the-road buses, and other buses with a gross vehicle weight rating greater than 26,000 pounds. | Federal Register Notice ( PDF) Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Byline: Steven Cliff |
| 11 February 2022 | Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Compressed Natural Gas Fuel Container Integrity This final rule amends the visual inspection labeling requirement in Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 304 by modifying the periodic inspection interval for compressed natural gas fuel containers installed on vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating greater than 10,000 pounds. | Federal Register Notice (text) Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Byline: Steven S. Cliff Topic: Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards |
| 22 February 2022 | BMW of North America, LLC and Volkswagen Group of America; Denial of Petitions for Temporary Exemption From FMVSS No. 108 for Vehicles With Adaptive Driving Beam Headlamps Both manufacturers requested exemptions on the basis that an exemption would facilitate the development or field evaluation of a new motor vehicle safety feature providing a safety level at least equal to that of the standard. | Federal Register Notice (text) Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Byline: Steven S. Cliff Topic: Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards |
| 22 February 2022 | Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Lamps, Reflective Devices, and Associated Equipment, Adaptive Driving Beam Headlamps This document amends NHTSA’s lighting standard to permit the certification of adaptive driving beam headlamps. | Federal Register Notice ( PDF) Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Byline: Steven S. Cliff Topic: Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards |
| 7 March 2022 | Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Denial of Petitions for Rulemaking This document denies the September 2021 petitions for rulemaking submitted by the Small Business in Transportation Coalition. | Federal Register Notice (text) Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Byline: Steven S. Cliff Topics: Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, Small Business in Transportation Coalition |
| 9 March 2022 | New Car Assessment Program In addition to star ratings for crash protection and rollover resistance, the NCAP program recommends particular advanced driver assistance systems technologies and identifies the vehicles in the marketplace that offer the systems that pass NCAP performance test criteria for those systems. | Federal Register Notice ( PDF) Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Byline: Steven S. Cliff |
| 9 March 2022 | Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) Requirements; Manufacturer Identification; Certification; Replica Motor Vehicles; Importation of Vehicles and Equipment Subject to Federal Safety, Bumper, and Theft Prevention Standards This final rule implements an exemption program for replica motor vehicles manufactured or imported by low-volume manufacturers, as set forth in Section 24405 of the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act. | Federal Register Notice (text) Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Byline: Steven S. Cliff |
| 15 March 2022 | Make Inoperative Exemptions; Vehicle Modifications To Accommodate People With Disabilities; Modifications by Rental Car Companies This final rule amends NHTSA's regulations regarding exemptions to the make inoperative prohibition to accommodate disabilities to include new exemptions relating to the Federal motor vehicle safety standards for roof crush resistance, rear visibility, and air bags. | Federal Register Notice (text) Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Byline: Steven S. Cliff |
| 30 March 2022 | Occupant Protection for Vehicles With Automated Driving Systems This final rule amends the occupant protection Federal motor vehicle safety standards to account for future vehicles that do not have the traditional manual controls associated with a human driver because they are equipped with Automated Driving Systems. | Federal Register Notice ( PDF) Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Byline: Steven S. Cliff |
| 1 April 2022 | Civil Penalties NHTSA published an interim final rule in response to a petition for rulemaking from the Alliance for Automotive Innovation. | Federal Register Notice (text) Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Byline: Steven S. Cliff Topic: Alliance for Automotive Innovation |
| 2 May 2022 | Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards for Model Years 2024–2026 Passenger Cars and Light Trucks NHTSA is finalizing revised fuel economy standards for passenger cars and light trucks for model years 2024–2025 that increase at a rate of 8 percent per year, and increase at a rate of 10 percent per year for MY 2026 vehicles. | Federal Register Notice ( PDF) Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Byline: Steven S. Cliff |
| 1 June 2022 | Grant of Petitions for Temporary Exemption From Shoulder Belt Requirement for Side-Facing Seats on Motorcoaches NHTSA is granting 13 petitions from various final stage manufacturers of motorcoaches for a temporary exemption from a shoulder belt requirement of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 208, “Occupant crash protection,” for side-facing seats. | Federal Register Notice (text) Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Byline: Steven S. Cliff |
| 8 June 2022 | Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, Consumer Information; Standard Reference Test Tire This rule is necessary because the only manufacturer of the currently referenced SRTT ceased production of the tire. | Federal Register Notice ( PDF) Signing Official: Steven S. Cliff Agency: NHTSA |
| 13 June 2022 | Exemptions From Average Fuel Economy Standards; Passenger Automobile Average Fuel Economy Standards NHTSA is withdrawing a proposed decision granting an exemption to Mosler Automotive from the industry-wide passenger car Corporate Average Fuel Economy standard for model years 2008-2010 and setting alternative standards for Mosler for those model years. | Federal Register Notice (text) Signing Official: Steven S. Cliff Agency: NHTSA Topic: Mosler |
| 22 June 2022 | Event Data Recorders NHTSA is proposing to amend its regulations regarding Event Data Recorders to extend the EDR recording period for timed data metrics from 5 seconds of pre-crash data at a frequency of 2 Hz to 20 seconds of pre-crash data at a frequency of 10 Hz. | Federal Register Notice (text) Signing Official: Steven S. Cliff Agency: NHTSA |
| 30 June 2022 | Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Child Restraint Systems, Child Restraint Systems—Side Impact Protection, Incorporation by Reference This final rule fulfills a statutory mandate set forth in the “Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act” (MAP–21) that directed the Secretary of Transportation to issue a final rule to improve the protection of children seated in child restraint systems during side impacts. | Federal Register Notice ( PDF) Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Byline: Steven S. Cliff |
| 1 July 2022 | Exemptions From Average Fuel Economy Standards; Passenger Automobile Average Fuel Economy Standards The low volume manufacturers and MYs are as follows: Aston Martin Lagonda Limited for MYs 2008-2023, Ferrari N.V. for MYs 2016-2018 and 2020, Koenigsegg Automotive AB for MYs 2015 and 2018-2023, McLaren Automotive for MYs 2012-2023, Mobility Ventures LLC for MYs 2014-2016, Pagani Automobili S.p.A for MYs 2014 and 2016-2023, and Spyker Automobielen B.V. for MYs 2008-2010. | Federal Register Notice (text) Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Byline: Steven S. Cliff |
| 7 July 2022 | Czinger Vehicles--Receipt of Petition for Temporary Exemption Czinger Vehicles has petitioned NHTSA for a temporary exemption from windshield requirements in Federal motor vehicle safety standard No. 205, Glazing materials. | Federal Register Notice (text) Signing Official: Steven S. Cliff Agency: NHTSA Topic: Czinger |
| 13 July 2022 | Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Minimum Sound Requirements for Hybrid and Electric Vehicles This final rule amends the test procedure in section S6.7.3 of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 141, Minimum Sound Requirements for Hybrid and Electric Vehicles, to specify the single point in time that should be used when determining one-third octave band levels of ambient noise measurements used in compliance tests. | Federal Register Notice (text) Signing Official: Steven S. Cliff Agency: NHTSA Topic: FMVSS |
| 15 July 2022 | Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Rear Impact Guards, Rear Impact Protection This final rule upgrades NHTSA’s safety standards addressing rear underride protection in crashes of passenger vehicles into trailers and semitrailers by adopting similar requirements to Transport Canada’s standard for rear impact guards. | Federal Register Notice ( PDF) Signing Official: Steven S. Cliff Agency: NHTSA Topic: FMVSS |
| 21 July 2022 | Ford Motor Company--Receipt of Petition for Temporary Exemption From Various Requirements of the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards for an Automated Driving System-Equipped Vehicle In July 2021, Ford submitted an exemption petition under 49 CFR part 555 for a vehicle equipped with a Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) International Level 4 ADS that can be operated in either a human-driven mode (Manual Mode), or in an ADS-driven mode (AV Mode). | Federal Register Notice (text) Signing Official: Steven S. Cliff Agency: NHTSA Topic: Ford Motor Company |
| 21 July 2022 | General Motors--Receipt of Petition for Temporary Exemption From Various Requirements of the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards for an Automated Driving System-Equipped Vehicle On February 17, 2022, GM submitted a petition for exemption for its Origin vehicle, which GM states is a multipurpose passenger vehicle equipped with a “Level 4 Automated Driving System” (ADS). | Federal Register Notice (text) Signing Official: Steven S. Cliff Agency: NHTSA Topic: Cruise Origin |
| 22 August 2022 | Ford Motor Company--Receipt of Petition for Temporary Exemption From Various Requirements of the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards for an Automated Driving System-Equipped Vehicle; Request for Comments; Extension of Comment Period Ford's petition seeks a temporary exemption from various requirements of the Federal motor vehicle safety standards for a vehicle equipped with an automated driving system. | Federal Register Notice (text) Signing Official: Steven S. Cliff Agency: NHTSA Topic: Ford Motor Company |
| 22 August 2022 | General Motors--Receipt of Petition for Temporary Exemption From Various Requirements of the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards for an Automated Driving System-Equipped Vehicle; Request for Comments; Extension of Comment Period GM's petition seeks a temporary exemption from various requirements of the Federal motor vehicle safety standards for a vehicle equipped with an automated driving system. | Federal Register Notice (text) Signing Official: Steven S. Cliff Agency: NHTSA Topic: General Motors |
| 23 August 2022 | Federal Motor Vehicle Theft Prevention Standard; Final Listing of 2020 Light Duty Truck Lines Subject to the Requirements of This Standard and Exempted Vehicle Lines for Model Year 2020 This final rule announces NHTSA's determination that there are no new model year 2020 light duty truck lines subject to the parts-marking requirements of the Federal motor vehicle theft prevention standard. | Federal Register Notice (text) Signing Official: Steven S. Cliff Agency: NHTSA |
| 13 September 2022 | Improvements for Heavy-Duty Engine and Vehicle Fuel Efficiency Test Procedures, and Other Technical Amendments These proposed amendments increase compliance flexibility, harmonize with other requirements, add clarity, correct errors, and streamline the regulations. | Federal Register Notice ( PDF) Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Byline: Steven S. Cliff |
| 15 September 2022 | Uniform Procedures for State Highway Safety Grant Programs We face a crisis on our roadways. NHTSA projects that an estimated 42,915 people died in motor vehicle crashes in 2021. | Federal Register Notice ( PDF) Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Byline: Steven S. Cliff |