Consumer Information Regulations; Utility Vehicle Label

This document relates to a final rule that amended the rollover warning currently required for small and mid-sized utility vehicles, to require a new label that uses graphics, bright colors, and short bulleted text messages. The final rule also required the inclusion in the owners' manuals of these vehicles of additional information related to rollover risks. The effective date for the final rule is September 1, 1999. The mandatory compliance date for the rule (i.e., the date on which manufacturers must begin complying with the amendments) is also September 1, 1999. We typically include language in our regulations, when appropriate, to permit manufacturers the option of complying with new requirements before the compliance date of those requirements. However, we inadvertently omitted such language from the above-mentioned rulemaking document. Today's document corrects this oversight and announces the date on which it is permissible for manufacturers to begin voluntarily producing warning labels and owner's manuals that comply with the new requirements.