Motor Vehicle Safety: Criminal Penalty Safe Harbor Provision

This final rule implements Section 5(b) of the Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability, and Documentation (TREAD) Act. Section 5(b) added a new section, which provides for criminal liability in circumstances where a person violates reporting requirements with the intention of misleading the Secretary of Transportation (Secretary) with respect to safety-related defects in motor vehicles or motor vehicle equipment that have caused death or serious bodily injury. To encourage the correction of incorrect or incomplete information that was reported or should have been reported to the Secretary, Section 5 includes a "safe harbor" provision that offers protection from criminal prosecution to persons who meet certain criteria. To qualify for this protection, the person must have lacked knowledge at the time of the violation that the violation would result in an accident causing death or serious bodily injury, and must correct any improper reports or failures to report to the Secretary within a reasonable time. This rule establishes what constitutes a "reasonable time" and a sufficient manner of "correction," for such improper reports and failures to report information to the Secretary.