Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Occupant Protection In Interior Impact

In April 1997, we issued a final rule amending its requirements for protecting vehicle occupants from impacts with upper vehicle interiors in crashes. One of the amendments in that final rule changed previously established procedures for relocating specific target points that are used to test compliance with the upper interior impact requirements. The procedure for relocating targets was modified by providing that targets could be relocated within a 25 millimeter (mm) radius sphere centered on the original target point. Prior to the modification, relocation was permitted within a 25 mm radius circle. However, the agency erroneously retained a provision specifying that the radius was to be measured along the surface of the vehicle interior. This technical conforming amendment eliminates that provision.