Products Liability Law Daily Wrap Up, NHTSA NEWS—COMMENT CALENDAR—NHTSA actions open for public comment, (Feb 9, 2021)

By WK Editorial Staff

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration actions, with links to source documents, are open for public comment until the dates indicated.

As detailed in previous Products Liability Law Daily stories, the following National Highway Traffic Safety Administration actions are open for public comment until the dates indicated below. Comments may be submitted to the docket number identified in the heading of this document by any of the following methods: Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting comments. Mail: Docket Management Facility: U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001. Hand Delivery or Courier: 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. Fax: 202-493-2251.

March 15, 2021. NHTSA’s updated draft cybersecurity best practices document titled Cybersecurity Best Practices for the Safety of Modern Vehicles. With this document, the agency is docketing and soliciting public feedback on a draft update based on the knowledge gained through prior comments, continued research, motor vehicle cybersecurity issues discovered by researchers, and related industry activities over the past four years since the first edition of the guidance, Cybersecurity Best Practices for the Safety of Modern Vehicles, was issued. Recommendations in the document focus on cybersecurity best practices that have safety implications for motor vehicles and motor vehicle equipment (NHTSA Request for comments, 86 FR 2481, January 12, 2021).

April 1, 2021. Advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) proposes a framework for Automated Driving System (ADS) safety that would objectively define, assess, and manage the safety of ADS performance while ensuring the flexibility necessary to enable further innovation. The agency intends to draw upon existing federal and non-federal "foundational efforts and tools" in order to structure the framework while ADS technology continues to develop. NHTSA has said that it would like a framework approach to safety for ADS developers that would use performance-oriented approaches and metrics to accommodate the design flexibility necessary for manufacturers to pursue safety innovations and novel designs in the new technologies. The comment period was extended 60 days from February 1, 2021 to April 1, 2021 (NHTSA Advance notice of proposed rulemaking, 85 FR 78058, December 3, 2020; NHTSA Advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM); extension of comment period, 86 FR 7523, January 29, 2021).

April 5, 2021. In accordance with the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP–21), NHTSA has proposed to amend Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 213, Child restraint systems, by updating the standard seat assembly on which child restraint systems (CRSs) are tested to determine their compliance with the standard’s dynamic performance requirements. Also proposed are amendments to modernize FMVSS No. 213, including a lessening of restrictions in some of the standard’s owner registration and labeling requirements, to give manufacturers more flexibility in communicating with parents in order to increase owner registrations for recall notification purposes and to increase the correct use of CRSs. The proposed rule also would streamline NHTSA’s use of test dummies to assess restraint performance, including simplifying the standard’s compliance tests to make them more reflective of real-world use of CRSs today. The comment period for the NPRM was scheduled to end on January 4, 2021 and has been extended to April 5, 2021 (NHTSA Notice for proposed rulemaking; request for comment, 85 FR 69388, November 2, 2020; NHTSA Proposed rule; extension of comment period, 86 FR 47, January 4, 2020).

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