Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Matters Incorporated by Reference

On January 6, 2012, NHTSA published a final rule updating and consolidating all of the references to the many standards and practices that are incorporated by reference into the Federal motor vehicle safety standards (FMVSSs). Additionally, the final rule removed an obsolete FMVSS, No. 208a, as well as various obsolete provisions in other FMVSSs. The agency received a petition for reconsideration of that final rule from the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. The petitioner asserts that the amendments to one FMVSS are not based on the latest version of that FMVSS and further asserts that several references to standards are out of date or contain minor omissions. The petitioner requests that technical amendments be made to address these issues. In response to the petition, this document amends certain paragraphs in FMVSS No. 202a to reflect the substantive language of the FMVSS in effect before the effective date of the January 6, 2012 final rule, with the addition of the cross-references to the consolidated list of materials incorporated by reference. The agency is denying the other requests made in the petition. This document also makes technical amendments to correct minor errors in the consolidated list of incorporated material and some of the FMVSS sections that reference this list.