Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Head Impact Protection

On August 18, 1995, NHTSA published a final rule amending Standard No. 201, ``Occupant Protection in Interior Impact,'' to require passenger cars and trucks, buses, and multipurpose passenger vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 10,000 pounds or less, to provide protection when an occupant's head strikes upper interior components, including pillars, side rails, headers, and the roof, during a crash. In response to petitions for reconsideration, NHTSA is amending that final rule to include another phase-in option, allow manufacturers to carry forward credits for vehicles certified to the new requirements prior to the beginning of the phase-in period, exclude buses with a GVWR of more than 8,500 pounds, specify that all attachments to the upper interior components are to remain in place during compliance testing, and make other changes to the test procedure to clarify some areas of confusion.