INDUSTRY AND CONSUMER RESPONSE TO NEW FEDERAL MOTOR VEHICLE SAFETY REQUIREMENTS FOR AUTOMATIC OCCUPANT PROTECTION. PHASE I: AUTOMOBILE MANUFACTURER SURVEY. A REPORT TO CONGRESS
The Conference Committee Report on the Department of Transportation appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 1987 (H.R. 99-696) directed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to conduct, and report the results of, an analysis of automobile industry and consumer response to the requirement of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 208 to equip ten percent of 1987 model year automobile production with automatic occupant protection systems. This report presents the findings of the first phase of the analysis, which addressed automobile manufacturers' methods of meeting this requirement. A breakdown is provided of the automobile models that will have automatic safety belts, full front seat airbag systems, or driver-side airbag systems in model year 1987, including the cost of each model. The report also describes each type of automatic belt system offered. This information is derived from responses to a letter sent to 23 domestic and foreign automobile manufacturers in December 1986. Analysis of the information provided supports several general conclusions: 1) Automobile manufacturers have adopted a wide variety of approaches for complying with FMVSS 208; 2) Automatic safety belts (rather than airbags) are being employed initially by the majority of manufacturers to meet the requirements of FMVSS 208; 3) The automatic belt systems offered by different manufacturers are of 3 basic types - motorized shoulder belts, non-motorized shoulder belts, and non-motorized lap and shoulder belts; and 4) Only a fraction of the costs of automatic belt systems are being passed by manufacturers directly to the purchasers.
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Corporate Authors:
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC United States 20590 - Publication Date: 1987-5
Media Info
- Features: Figures; Tables;
- Pagination: 27 p.
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Air bags; Automatic seat belts; Automobile industry; Compliance; Costs; Data collection; Industries; Surveys
- Identifier Terms: Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards
- Old TRIS Terms: Automatic restraints
- Subject Areas: Finance; Highways; Vehicles and Equipment; I91: Vehicle Design and Safety;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 00610224
- Record Type: Publication
- Source Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
- Report/Paper Numbers: HS-040 924
- Files: HSL, TRIS, USDOT
- Created Date: Jun 30 2000 12:00AM