Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Head Impact Protection

This final rule amends the upper interior impact requirements of Standard 201, Occupant Protection in Interior Impact, to permit, but not require, the installation of dynamically deploying upper interior head protection systems currently being developed by some vehicle manufacturers to provide added head protection in lateral crashes. Compliance with those requirements is tested at specified points called ``target points.'' Since compliance is often not practicable at target points located near the places where these dynamic systems are stored before they are deployed, vehicles equipped with the dynamic systems will be allowed to meet slightly reduced requirements at those points. However, these vehicles will also be required to meet new requirements to ensure that these dynamic systems enhance safety. This final rule adds procedures and performance requirements for testing the deployment of these systems and their protective capability through a combination of in-vehicle tests and a full scale vehicle crash test. In a separate final rule being published today, the agency is establishing specifications and qualification requirements for a newly-developed anthropomorphic test dummy to be used in determining compliance with the dynamic crash test requirements.