Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Occupant Protection in Interior Impact

Our safety standard on occupant protection in interior impact requires, in part, that light vehicles provide head protection when an occupant's head strikes upper interior components, such as pillars, side rails, headers, and the roof during a crash. While these requirements already apply to most vehicles, the compliance date for altered vehicles and vehicles built in two or more stages is September 1, 2007. In April 2006, we responded to two petitions for rulemaking by proposing certain amendments to the head protection requirements as they apply to these vehicles. We also proposed to delay the compliance date of the requirements for these vehicles. In this document, after carefully considering both the safety benefits of the upper interior protection requirements and practicability concerns relating to vehicles built in two or more stages and certain altered vehicles, we are amending the standard to limit these requirements to only the front seating positions of those vehicles. In addition, we are excluding from the requirements a narrow group of multi-stage vehicles delivered to the final stage manufacturer without an occupant compartment. Finally, we have decided to delay the compliance date of the head impact protection requirements as they apply to final stage manufacturers and alterers until September 1, 2009.