29
that NHTSA amend FMVSS No. 213 within two years with a final rule “to improve the
protection of children seated in child restraint systems during side impact crashes.”
62
Instead, NHSTA issued a proposed rule that would require all seats designed for children
up to 40 pounds (or children in the infant to four-year-old range) to be tested in a simulated side-
impact collision. Instead of banning the marketing and sale of booster seats for children under
40 pounds, the proposed rule required manufacturers to conduct testing if they wanted children
under 40 pounds to use their booster seats. The proposed rule assumed that to cut costs,
manufacturers would opt to only sell booster seats designed for children over 40 pounds, rather
than pay for expensive safety testing.
63
The comment period was extended to October 2014 at
the request of car seat manufacturers.
64
Six years later, the final rule for side-impact standards
still has not been issued. According to reports, the industry has sought to delay the side-impact
rule.
65
C. After Oversight and Legislative Pressure from the Subcommittee, NHTSA
Finally Pushed Forward with Long-Awaited Rulemaking
On March 18, 2020, Chairman Krishnamoorthi and Representative Katie Porter sent a
letter to NHTSA Acting Administrator James Owens asking why NHTSA had failed to complete
the Congressionally-mandated rulemaking on side-impact testing for children’s car seats.
66
On
July 8, 2020, Acting Administrator Owens replied, explaining that NHTSA’s failure was due in-
part to a lack of available crash test data, promising the Subcommittee that it would issue a final
rule by the end of the year establishing a new child-sized crash test dummy that allows more
precise data collection for side-impact collisions.
67
62
Pub. L. No. 112-141 (2012), 126 Stat. 774.
63
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Child
Restraint Systems, Child Restraint Systems—Side Impact Protection, Incorporation by Reference, 79 Fed. Reg. 4569
(Jan. 28, 2014) (proposed rule) (online at www.federalregister.gov/documents/2014/01/28/2014-01568/federal-
motor-vehicle-safety-standards-child-restraint-systems-child-restraint-systems-side-impact).
64
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Child
Restraint Systems—Side Impact Protection, 79 Fed. Reg. 32211 (June 4, 2014) (reopening of comment period)
(online at www.federalregister.gov/documents/2014/06/04/2014-12899/federal-motor-vehicle-safety-standards-
child-restraint-systems-side-impact-protection).
65
The Car Seat Industry Helped Delay a Child Safety Regulation—Again, ProPublica (Aug. 20, 2019)
(online at www.propublica.org/article/the-car-seat-industry-helped-delay-a-child-safety-regulation-again).
66
Letter from Chairman Raja Krishnamoorthi and Rep. Katie Porter, Subcommittee on Economic and
Consumer Policy, Committee on Oversight and Reform, to James Owens, Acting Administrator, National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration (Mar. 18, 2020) (online at
https://oversight.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/27%20-
%20RK%20and%20KP%20to%20Owens%20NTHSA%20re%20Rulemaking.pdf).
67
Letter from Adam J. Sullivan, Assistant Secretary for Government Affairs, Department of
Transportation, to Chairman Raja Krishnamoorthi, Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy, Committee
on Oversight and Reform (July 8, 2020) (online at
https://oversight.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/29%20-
%20NHTSA%20Reposnse%20re%20Booster%20Seats%20and%20Side%20Impacts.pdf).