S161-119

What This Bill Does

Requires the Transportation Secretary and NHTSA to update federal crashworthiness rules and the New Car Assessment Program by adding THOR frontal and Worldwide Harmonized Side Impact Dummy testing devices for 50th percentile adult males and 5th percentile adult females, setting injury criteria based on real-world injuries, requiring adult-female tests in all front seating positions already tested for adult males, and reporting on future testing-device roadmaps.

Who Benefits and How

Adult female vehicle occupants benefit because frontal and side crashworthiness testing must include 5th percentile adult female test devices and injury criteria for head, neck, chest, abdomen, pelvis, upper leg, and lower leg injuries. Passenger vehicle buyers benefit because NCAP testing procedures must incorporate the updated devices, making safety ratings better reflect female occupants. Crash test device manufacturers and vehicle safety researchers benefit from regulatory demand for THOR and Worldwide Harmonized Side Impact Dummy devices and a roadmap for more advanced devices. International safety researchers benefit because NHTSA must compare U.S. devices with more advanced devices used in other countries, including the European New Car Assessment Programme.

Who Bears the Burden and How

NHTSA rulemaking staff must revise parts 571 and 572 quickly, issue final rules within 120 to 180 days for frontal devices, issue side-impact rules within 30 months, update NCAP procedures, and write 1-year and 5-year roadmap reports. Passenger vehicle manufacturers must adapt compliance testing, vehicle design, and safety documentation to adult-female frontal and side-impact tests in front seating positions. Auto testing laboratories must obtain or validate required devices and procedures. The Transportation Secretary must justify any decision not to update existing U.S. testing devices.

Key Provisions

• Requires federal motor vehicle safety standards to add 50th percentile adult male THOR and 5th percentile adult female THOR frontal impact devices.
• Requires final frontal-impact rules within 180 days for the male THOR device and 120 days after enactment for the female THOR device.
• Requires injury criteria based on real-world injuries and adult-female frontal crashworthiness tests in all front seating positions tested for adult males.
• Requires Worldwide Harmonized Side Impact Dummy devices for 50th percentile adult males and 5th percentile adult females and a final side-impact rule within 30 months.
• Requires NCAP testing procedure updates for the frontal and side-impact devices.
• Requires 1-year and 5-year testing-device roadmap reports comparing U.S. devices with more advanced international devices.
• Preserves the Transportation Secretary's ability to update testing devices through separate or later proceedings.