FMVSS 214 Side Impact Amendments

On March 15, 2010, NHTSA published a notice in the Federal Register at 75 FR 12123 responding to outstanding petitions for reconsideration that were filed in response to the Sep. 11, 2007 final rule that upgrade FMVSS 214, Side Impact Protection.  This notices denies requests to revise the SID-IIs pelvic criterion and to exclude vehicles manufactured in more than one stage from the pole test. The notice grants several suggestions to clarify or revise aspects of the test procedures relating to, among other matters:

• Vehicle set-up (adjusting the non-struck side seat; adjusting head restraints, shoulder belt anchorages, and adjustable steering wheels, clarifying the vehicle test attitude tolerance);
• test dummy set-up  (positioning the SID-IIs; removing redundant foot positioning procedures); and 
• corrections (e.g., ES-2re filter class designation;  exclusion of rear seats that cannot accommodate the SID in the MDB test during the phase-in period; FMVSS No. 301 and FMVSS No. 305 test dummy applications).
  

The notice also makes clear that the upgraded MDB test does not apply to convertibles manufactured before September 1, 2015. All other requests made in the petitions for reconsideration of the September 11, 2007 final rule to which NHTSA have not previously responded have been denied. 

NHTSA contact: Chris Wiacek, NHTSA Office of Crashworthiness Standards, 202-366-4801.

Docket Reference: NHTSA-2010-0032.