Modernizing Seat Back Safety Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4025 To require the Secretary of Transportation to issue a final rule revising motor vehicle seat back safety standards. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 21, 2021 Miss RICE of New York (for herself, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, and Ms. DEGETTE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on En- ergy and Commerce A BILL To require the Secretary of Transportation to issue a final rule revising motor vehicle seat back safety standards. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Modernizing Seat Back 4 Safety Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. MOTOR VEHICLE SEAT BACK SAFETY STANDARDS. 6 (a) FINDINGS; PURPOSES.— 7 (1) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 8 (A) crashes involving seat structural fail- 9 ures in passenger motor vehicles pose a signifi- 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:00 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4025.IH H4025 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 4025 IH cant public health and safety threat, particu- 1 larly to children occupying rear seats; 2 (B) thousands of preventable fatalities and 3 life-threatening injuries have occurred as a re- 4 sult of motor vehicle seat failures; 5 (C) the National Highway Traffic Safety 6 Administration has neglected to improve the 7 motor vehicle seat integrity standard for more 8 than 50 years, to the detriment of passenger 9 motor vehicle safety; and 10 (D) this Act is introduced in honor and 11 memory of the victims of motor vehicle seat 12 failures in crashes, including those whose pre- 13 cious lives were cut far too short as a result of 14 seat failures and those whose catastrophic inju- 15 ries dramatically changed their lives, including 16 Taylor Grace Warner, Jayden-Faith Fraser, 17 Emily Reavis, Owen Reavis, Teddy Schwab, 18 Jaklin Romine, Russell Selkirk, Travis 19 Oldhouser, Thomas Comella, Geneva Massie, 20 Crystal Collins, Mary Portis, Dzemila Heco, 21 Aaliyah George, Heikki Helava, and Clyde M. 22 Sneed. 23 (2) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act 24 are— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:55 Jul 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4025.IH H4025 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 4025 IH (A) to reduce the number of preventable 1 deaths and injuries caused by motor vehicle 2 seat failures; and 3 (B) to improve passenger motor vehicle 4 safety. 5 (b) FINAL RULE.—Not later than 2 years after the 6 date of enactment of this Act, subject to subsection (c), 7 the Secretary of Transportation shall issue a final rule up- 8 dating section 571.207 of title 49, Code of Federal Regu- 9 lations, to reduce the potential for injury to all motor vehi- 10 cle occupants due to seat back failure during all types of 11 vehicle impact. 12 (c) COMPLIANCE DATE.—In issuing the final rule 13 pursuant to subsection (b), the Secretary of Transpor- 14 tation shall establish a date for required compliance with 15 the final rule of not later than 2 motor vehicle model years 16 after the model year during which the effective date of 17 the final rule occurs. 18 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:00 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4025.IH H4025 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS