National Highway Traffic Safety Administration June 30, 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This document amends the Federal motor vehicle safety standard on hydraulic and electric brake systems to extend the current minimum performance requirements and associated test procedures for parking brake systems to all multipurpose passenger vehicles (MPVs), buses and trucks with gross vehicle weight ratings (GVWR) greater than 10,000 pounds (4,536 kilograms) equipped with hydraulic or electric brake systems. Currently, the only vehicles with GVWRs greater than 10,000 pounds to which the standard's parking brake requirements apply are school buses. The agency concludes that it is in the interest of safety to require all MPVs, buses and trucks with GVWRs over 10,000 pounds to have parking brakes that meet the performance requirements currently applicable to heavy school buses.

Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 213, ``Child restraint systems,'' requires that the webbing of child restraints must not lose more than a specified percentage of its original breaking strength as a result of being exposed to certain adverse conditions. The standard currently does not specify a minimum breaking strength for the unexposed webbing. This document proposes such a minimum, as well as a minimum breaking strength requirement for the exposed webbing. It also makes clearer in the text of FMVSS No. 213 that the heavier of two weights specified in the standard is used to abrade the webbing used to attach child restraint systems to the child restraint anchorages located in a vehicle.