HR6850-119

In Committee

DRIVE to HALT Drunk Driving Act

119th Congress Introduced Dec 18, 2025

Summary

What This Bill Does

The DRIVE to HALT Drunk Driving Act adds a new motor vehicle safety section for drunk and impaired driving prevention. A covered manufacturer is one that made, sold, introduced, or imported more than 250,000 motor vehicles in the second most recent calendar year. Within 180 days, each covered manufacturer may not manufacture for sale, sell, offer for sale, introduce into interstate commerce, or import fewer than 10,000 passenger vehicles per year meeting the Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety Subsystem Performance Specification Document and fewer than 10,000 passenger vehicles per year complying with sections 3.5.1 through 3.5.4.4 of Euro NCAP version 10.3 from December 2023. When Euro NCAP revises the driver-monitoring standard, the revised standard replaces the older one after 120 days unless the Secretary publishes notice, allows comment, and determines the revision does not meet motor vehicle safety needs.

Who Benefits and How

Passengers, drivers, pedestrians, and families benefit if impaired-driving prevention technology reduces alcohol-impaired or distracted driving crashes. Impairment-detection technology suppliers benefit from a required production floor for DADSS and driver-monitoring systems. State highway safety programs benefit if vehicle systems reduce impaired-driving injuries and enforcement burdens.

Who Bears the Burden and How

Covered vehicle manufacturers must integrate qualifying systems into at least 20,000 passenger vehicles per year across the two required technology categories. Importers of passenger vehicles from covered manufacturers must ensure compliance before import. NHTSA and Transportation Department staff must monitor compliance and decide whether revised Euro NCAP standards meet U.S. safety needs. Consumers may face vehicle-cost pass-through if compliance costs are embedded in prices.

Key Provisions

  • Requires covered manufacturers to produce at least 10,000 passenger vehicles per year meeting DADSS alcohol-detection specifications.
  • Requires covered manufacturers to produce at least 10,000 passenger vehicles per year meeting specified Euro NCAP driver-monitoring standards.
  • Requires updated Euro NCAP standards to replace existing standards within 120 days unless the Secretary rejects them after notice and comment.
  • Defines covered manufacturers by a 250,000-vehicle annual threshold.

Evidence Chain:

This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.

At a Glance

What This Bill Does

Requires large passenger-vehicle manufacturers to produce at least 10,000 vehicles per year meeting DADSS impairment-detection specifications and 10,000 vehicles per year meeting specified European New Car Assessment Programme driver-monitoring standards within 180 days, with automatic incorporation of updated Euro NCAP standards unless the Transportation Secretary rejects them after notice and comment.

Key Policy Areas

Vehicle Safety, Transportation, Automotive Manufacturing

Primary Purpose

Requires large passenger-vehicle manufacturers to produce at least 10,000 vehicles per year meeting DADSS impairment-detection specifications and 10,000 vehicles per year meeting specified European New Car Assessment Programme driver-monitoring standards within 180 days, with automatic incorporation of updated Euro NCAP standards unless the Transportation Secretary rejects them after notice and comment.

Policy Domains

Vehicle Safety Transportation Automotive Manufacturing

Substantive provisions

Identified Gains
  • Passenger vehicle occupants
  • Pedestrians
  • Impairment-detection technology suppliers
  • State highway safety programs
Model: codex-gpt-5 | Version: bill_summary_v2 | Source: ih
Pedestrians: ,
Passenger vehicle occupants: ,
State highway safety programs: ,
Impairment-detection technology suppliers: ,
Identified Costs
  • Covered vehicle manufacturers
  • Passenger vehicle importers
  • NHTSA staff
  • Consumers buying new vehicles
Model: codex-gpt-5 | Version: bill_summary_v2 | Source: ih
NHTSA staff: ,
Passenger vehicle importers: ,
Consumers buying new vehicles: ,
Covered vehicle manufacturers: ,

Legislative Progress

In Committee
Introduced Committee Passed
Dec 18, 2025

Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Dec 18, 2025

Introduced in House

Dec 18, 2025

Mrs. Dingell introduced the following bill; which was referred to …

Stakeholder Effects

cui bono?

How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.

Consumers
2 mentions across 2 clauses
+2 positive

Passenger vehicle occupants

Manufacturing
2 mentions across 2 clauses
-2 negative

Covered vehicle manufacturers

Technology
2 mentions across 2 clauses
+2 positive

Impairment-detection technology suppliers

Government
2 mentions across 2 clauses
-2 negative

NHTSA staff

3/3
sections analyzed
Full impact breakdown

Bill Structure & Actor Mappings

Who is "The Secretary" in each section?

Domains
Vehicle Safety Transportation Automotive Manufacturing

We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.

Learn more about our methodology