Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Occupant Protection in Interior Impact

Our safety standard on occupant protection in interior impact requires, in part, that light vehicles provide head protection when an occupant's head strikes upper interior components, such as pillars, side rails, headers, and the roof during a crash. While these requirements already apply to most vehicles, the compliance date for altered vehicles and vehicles built in two or more stages is September 1, 2006. In April 2006, we responded to two petitions for rulemaking by proposing certain amendments to the head protection requirements as they apply to these vehicles. We also proposed to delay the compliance date of the requirements for these vehicles until September 1, 2008. Given the short period of time until the current September 1, 2006 compliance date, and as a partial step toward completing action on the April 2006 proposal, we are, by this final rule, delaying the compliance date for one year. This will give us time to fully analyze the comments and reach a decision on other aspects of the proposal, including the proposed additional delay in the compliance date.