Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Side Impact Protection Light Trucks, Buses and Multipurpose Passenger Vehicles

This rule amends Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 214, ``Side Impact Protection,'' to extend its dynamic testing requirements to light trucks, multipurpose passenger vehicles and buses with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 6,000 pounds or less. (Light trucks, multipurpose passenger vehicles and buses are hereinafter referred to as LTVs.) The dynamic testing requirements currently apply to passenger cars only. This rule extends the dynamic procedures now used to test passenger cars, without modification, to LTVs. Based on current vehicle sales data, the agency estimates that the percentage of LTVs will increase significantly in the future. Small LTVs, which are potentially vulnerable in side crashes, will comprise much of the LTV fleet by the year 2000. This extension ensures these vehicles provide side impact protection for the same crash conditions under which passenger cars provide such protection. It also furthers the goal of the NHTSA Authorization Act of 1991 (sections 2500-2509 of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (``ISTEA'')), which directed NHTSA to initiate rulemaking on LTV side impact safety.