National Highway Traffic Safety Administration November 2024 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This final decision notice adds a crashworthiness pedestrian protection program to the New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) to evaluate new model year vehicles' abilities to mitigate pedestrian injuries. Based on its previous research, NHTSA concurs with and adopts most of the European New Car Assessment Programme's (Euro NCAP) pedestrian crashworthiness assessment methods, including the injury limits for test devices and the score calculation method used for impact points. NHTSA will identify new model year vehicles meeting a certain minimum safety threshold on the Agency's website and other published literature. This notice responds in part to the provisions in Section 24213 of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which requires NHTSA to incorporate measures in NCAP for evaluating the protection that new vehicles provide vulnerable road users like pedestrians.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) provides notice to the public that the Conforming Products List (CPL) maintained and updated by NHTSA for Down The Road (DTR) radar speed measuring devices will be discontinued. A new industry-based product Verification Program has been developed to confirm that DTR radar speed measuring devices conform to certain minimum specifications. The new industry-based product Verification Program will provide manufacturers the flexibility to confirm conformance with any testing entity as long as the entity can fulfill the requirements for testing and verifying device compliance with the established performance specifications, testing protocols and laboratory accreditation requirements of the industry-based Verification Program. To afford manufacturers time to transition to the new program, NHTSA will maintain the CPL for one year after the date of this notice. Under the new Verification Program, a DTR radar speed measuring device manufacturer can use an accredited testing entity to verify that its speed measuring device conforms to an established performance standard and will be placed on a verified products list maintained by the Verification Program. Please refer to the NIST website for a list of available Verification Programs: https://www.nist.gov/mml/mmsd/ security-technologies-group/down-road-dtr-radar. The new Verification Program will provide manufacturers with a proven method of demonstrating compliance to the minimum performance specifications, will empower end-users to make better purchasing decisions, and benefit manufacturers as products can quickly gain market acceptance. Accordingly, as of the date of this publication, NHTSA will no longer perform CPL processing under the Interim Administrative Guide for the Traffic Enforcement Technologies Program.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) invites public comments about our intention to request approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for a new information collection. Before a Federal agency can collect certain information from the public, it must receive approval from OMB. Under procedures established by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, before seeking OMB approval, Federal agencies must solicit public comment on proposed collections of information, including extensions and reinstatement of previously approved collections. This document describes a collection of information for which NHTSA intends to seek OMB approval for a National Roadside Survey (NRS) of alcohol and other drug prevalence among drivers and other road users (ORUs; e.g., pedestrians, bicyclists, electric scooter riders, and those with mobility aids. NHTSA will conduct two studies. Study 1 will focus on drivers but include convenience sampling of ORUs passing by the driver data collection locations. Study 2 is a pilot test assessing the feasibility of an NRS specific to ORUs. Both will collect breath and oral fluid specimens, demographic information, and self-report questionnaire data on roads across the country. Participation will be voluntary and anonymous.

HOLON and HOLON U.S. Inc have petitioned NHTSA for a temporary exemption from certain requirements in seven Federal motor vehicle safety standards (FMVSS) for its "automated electric bus," which is a vehicle equipped with an Automated Driving System (ADS). Specifically, HOLON seeks exemption from portions of FMVSS No. 101, Controls and displays; FMVSS No. 102, Transmission shift position sequence, starter interlock, and transmission braking effect; FMVSS No. 104, Windshield wiping and washing systems; FMVSS No. 105, Windshield wiping and washing systems; FMVSS No. 108, Lamps, reflective devices, and associated equipment; FMVSS No. 111, Rear visibility; and FMVSS No. 208, Occupant crash protection. NHTSA is publishing this document in accordance with statutory and administrative provisions and seeks comment on the merits of HOLON's exemption petition and on potential terms and conditions that should be applied to a temporary exemption if granted. After receiving and considering public comments, NHTSA will assess the merits of the petition and will publish a notice in the Federal Register notice setting forth NHTSA's reasoning for either granting or denying the petition.

Legacy Limousines and Luxury Coaches has petitioned NHTSA for a temporary exemption from the requirement to install Type 2 seat belts (i.e., shoulder belts) at side-facing locations in the company's motorcoaches. The petitioner is a final-stage manufacturer of entertainer-type motorcoaches, seeking temporary exemption from the shoulder belt requirement of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 208, "Occupant crash protection," for side-facing seats on motorcoaches. The petitioner seeks to install Type 1 seat belts (lap belt only) at side-facing seating positions, instead of the Type 2 seat belts (lap and shoulder belts) required by FMVSS No. 208. The petitioner states that, absent the requested exemption, it will otherwise be unable to sell a vehicle whose overall level of safety or impact protection is at least equal to that of a nonexempted vehicle. NHTSA is publishing this document to notify the public of the receipt of the petition and to request comment on it, in accordance with statutory and administrative provisions.