Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards: Interior Trunk Release

In October 2000, NHTSA published a final rule establishing a new Federal motor vehicle safety standard that will require passenger cars with trunks to be equipped with a release latch inside the trunk compartment. Four organizations filed petitions for reconsideration of this rule. In response to these petitions, the agency is making several substantive changes to the final rule. It is excluding hatchbacks and station wagons. It is also excluding sub-compartments that are formed within the trunk compartment when a convertible power top folds down into the trunk. The agency is changing the definition of "trunk lid" to explicitly exclude the lids of interior storage compartments. The agency is revising the definition of "trunk compartment" to include standard equipment in the determination of the size of the trunk compartment. The agency is amending the standard to require that interior trunk releases on passenger cars with front trunk compartments unlatch the primary, but not the secondary, latch if the passenger car is moving when the trunk release is actuated. The agency is providing an additional year of lead-time for passenger cars with front trunk compartments. The agency is also denying requests: To exclude passenger cars with trunk lids that contact the three-year-old child dummy (used to determine whether a trunk compartment is large enough to be subject to the standard) before latching, or provide those cars with an additional year of lead-time; to require that the ignition be in the "off" position for an automatic trunk release system to operate; to require that an automatic trunk release system may unlatch the trunk lid only when a person inside the trunk compartment is moving; and to allow means for temporary disabling of automatic trunk release systems. Finally, the agency is adding a requirement that manufacturers irrevocably select which compliance option, manual or automatic, they will employ.