Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Seating Systems

This notice terminates a rulemaking proceeding to amend Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 207, "Seating systems." NHTSA is seeking to improve motor vehicle seat performance in rear impacts. The agency has conducted extensive physical testing of seat backs, computer modeling of seated occupants in rear impacts and dynamic testing of instrumented test dummies in vehicle seats. However, additional research and data analyses are needed to allow an informed decision on a rulemaking action in this area. Since the Semi-Annual Regulatory Agenda (Unified Agenda) is intended to provide the public with information on rulemaking actions to be taken in the next year or so, and since we do not anticipate being able to take rulemaking action in this area in that time frame, we are terminating rulemaking proceedings on this issue. Research into this area will continue as time and resources allow, particularly as it relates to the goal of unifying FMVSS No. 202, "Head restraints," and FMVSS No. 207 into a single comprehensive rear impact protection standard.