Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Occupant Crash Protection

This document amends the requirements for seat belts at forward-facing rear outboard seating positions of police cars and other law enforcement vehicles to facilitate the transporting of prisoners. It does so by permitting those belts to be equipped with manual adjustment devices instead of emergency locking retractors, and excluding them from requirements for the accessibility of belt latch plates, the simultaneous release of the lap and shoulder belt portions of a lap and shoulder belt, and the release of the latch mechanism at a single point. This action was initiated in response to a petition for rulemaking submitted by Laguna Manufacturing, Inc.