I saw in the federal transportation bill that passed over the summer (MAP-21) that there are some CPS-related provisions. Does anyone know more about these? Some of them are self-explanatory but others are a little vague as to the motivation and intention.
- Section 31501 instructs NHTSA to begin the process of amending FMVSS 213 to improve child restraints' side-impact protection.
- This section also instructs NHTSA to change its "standard seat assembly specifications" to better simulate a rear vehicle seat. Is this something to do with updating the test bench? What are the shortcomings of the current set-up?
- Section 31502 requires NHTSA to work on improving the "ease of use" for LATCH but doesn't give any further detail. Is this possibly related to higher LATCH weight limits? Or is it literally just "ease of use" in the sense of not having the anchors buried in the seat bight behind stiff leather?
This whole area is still relatively new to me, so I'd love to hear more from you experts about these provisions and what they might mean.
And my apologies if this has already been discussed here -- I did not see anything recent on this.
- Section 31501 instructs NHTSA to begin the process of amending FMVSS 213 to improve child restraints' side-impact protection.
- This section also instructs NHTSA to change its "standard seat assembly specifications" to better simulate a rear vehicle seat. Is this something to do with updating the test bench? What are the shortcomings of the current set-up?
- Section 31502 requires NHTSA to work on improving the "ease of use" for LATCH but doesn't give any further detail. Is this possibly related to higher LATCH weight limits? Or is it literally just "ease of use" in the sense of not having the anchors buried in the seat bight behind stiff leather?
This whole area is still relatively new to me, so I'd love to hear more from you experts about these provisions and what they might mean.
And my apologies if this has already been discussed here -- I did not see anything recent on this.
