49 U.S.C. § 32302 — Passenger motor vehicle information
submitted 32 years ago by Pub. L. 103-272 to r/title-49-TRANSPORTATION · 837 words · no verdicts yet
The Secretary must develop and publish comparable passenger-vehicle information about damage, crashworthiness, crash avoidance, repair difficulty, and related safety technologies. The section requires rules, notices, and reports about defect complaints and technology ratings.
(a) Information Program. The Secretary must maintain a program developing information about: (1) damage susceptibility; (2) crashworthiness, crash avoidance, and other areas the Secretary finds will improve passenger-vehicle safety; and (3) how difficult it is to diagnose and repair mechanical and electrical damage or failures. (b) Motor Vehicle Information. To help consumers buy vehicles, the Secretary must give the public this information in simple, understandable, comparable form across makes and models and may require dealers to distribute it. After public comment, the Secretary must study and report to Congress the most useful data, format, and method for presenting damage-susceptibility information. (c) Crash Avoidance. Within 1 year after enactment of the Safety Through Informed Consumers Act of 2015, the Secretary must issue a rule ensuring crash-avoidance information appears next to crashworthiness information on manufacturer vehicle stickers. (d) Defect Reporting. Within 1 year after enactment of the 2012 Motor Vehicle and Highway Safety Improvement Act, the Secretary must require manufacturers to put in the glove compartment or another accessible place a simple sticker or device explaining how to submit a safety-related defect complaint to NHTSA; print the same information prominently in the owner’s manual; and not put it on the label required by section 3 of the Automobile Information Disclosure Act. These requirements apply to model years manufactured more than 1 year after the final rule. (e) Advanced Crash-Avoidance Technologies. Within 1 year after this subsection’s enactment, the Secretary must publish a notice for review and comment establishing, separately from crashworthiness, consumer information about advanced crash-avoidance technologies. The notice must include methods for choosing included technologies, creating manufacturer performance tests, assigning each included technology a distinct rating, updating overall vehicle ratings, and any other necessary information and analysis. Within 18 months, the Secretary must report to the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee and House Energy and Commerce Committee on a plan for the information and rating system. (f) Vulnerable Road User Safety. Within 1 year after this subsection’s enactment, the Secretary must publish a notice for review and comment establishing consumer information about pedestrian, bicyclist, and other vulnerable-road-user safety technologies. It must include methods for choosing technologies, developing tests for how well automated pedestrian systems in light vehicles try to prevent and reduce pedestrian injury, assigning distinct ratings, updating overall ratings, and other necessary information and analysis. Within 18 months, the Secretary must report to the same Senate and House committees on a plan for that information and rating system.
The Secretary of Transportation (referred to in this section as the “Secretary”) shall maintain a program for developing the following information on passenger motor vehicles:
damage susceptibility.
crashworthiness, crash avoidance, and any other areas the Secretary determines will improve the safety of passenger motor vehicles.
the degree of difficulty of diagnosis and repair of damage to, or failure of, mechanical and electrical systems.
To assist a consumer in buying a passenger motor vehicle, the Secretary shall provide to the public information developed under subsection (a) of this section. The information shall be in a simple and understandable form that allows comparison of the characteristics referred to in subsection (a)(1)–(3) of this section among the makes and models of passenger motor vehicles. The Secretary may require passenger motor vehicle dealers to distribute the information to prospective buyers. The Secretary, after providing an opportunity for public comment, shall study and report to Congress the most useful data, format, and method for providing simple and understandable damage susceptibility information to consumers.
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of the Safety Through Informed Consumers Act of 2015, the Secretary shall promulgate a rule to ensure that crash avoidance information is indicated next to crashworthiness information on stickers placed on motor vehicles by their manufacturers.
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of the Motor Vehicle and Highway Safety Improvement Act of 2012, the Secretary shall prescribe regulations that require passenger motor vehicle manufacturers—
to affix, in the glove compartment or in another readily accessible location on the vehicle, a sticker, decal, or other device that provides, in simple and understandable language, information about how to submit a safety-related motor vehicle defect complaint to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration;
to prominently print the information described in subparagraph (A) within the owner’s manual; and
to not place such information on the label required under section 3 of the Automobile Information Disclosure Act (15 U.S.C. 1232).
The requirements under paragraph (1) shall apply to passenger motor vehicles manufactured in any model year beginning more than 1 year after the date on which a final rule is published under paragraph (1).
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this subsection, the Secretary shall publish a notice, for purposes of public review and comment, to establish, distinct from crashworthiness information, a means for providing to consumers information relating to advanced crash-avoidance technologies, in accordance with subsection (a).
The notice under paragraph (1) shall include—
an appropriate methodology for—
determining which advanced crash-avoidance technologies shall be included in the information;
developing performance test criteria for use by manufacturers in evaluating advanced crash-avoidance technologies;
determining a distinct rating involving each advanced crash-avoidance technology to be included; and
updating overall vehicle ratings to incorporate advanced crash-avoidance technology ratings; and
such other information and analyses as the Secretary determines to be necessary to implement the rating of advanced crash-avoidance technologies.
Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this subsection, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives a report that describes a plan for implementing an advanced crash-avoidance technology information and rating system, in accordance with subsection (a).
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this subsection, the Secretary shall publish a notice, for purposes of public review and comment, to establish a means for providing to consumers information relating to pedestrian, bicyclist, or other vulnerable road user safety technologies, in accordance with subsection (a).
The notice under paragraph (1) shall include—
an appropriate methodology for—
determining which technologies shall be included in the information;
developing performance test criteria for use by manufacturers in evaluating the extent to which automated pedestrian safety systems in light vehicles attempt to prevent and mitigate, to the best extent possible, pedestrian injury;
determining a distinct rating involving each technology to be included; and
updating overall vehicle ratings to incorporate vulnerable road user safety technology ratings; and
such other information and analyses as the Secretary determines to be necessary to implement the rating of vulnerable road user safety technologies.
Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this subsection, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives a report that describes a plan for implementing an information and rating system for vulnerable road user safety technologies, in accordance with subsection (a).
Source credit: (Pub. L. 103–272, § 1(e), July 5, 1994, 108 Stat. 1035; Pub. L. 112–141, div. C, title I, §§ 31305(b), 31306, July 6, 2012, 126 Stat. 765; Pub. L. 112–252, §§ 1, 2(a), Jan. 10, 2013, 126 Stat. 2406; Pub. L. 114–94, div. B, title XXIV, § 24322, Dec. 4, 2015, 129 Stat. 1713; Pub. L. 117–58, div. B, title IV, § 24213(b), Nov. 15, 2021, 135 Stat. 826.)
- 1994Enacted · Pub. L. 103-272 · 108 Stat. 1035
- 2012Amended · Pub. L. 112-141 · 126 Stat. 765
- 2013Amended · Pub. L. 112-252 · 126 Stat. 2406
- 2015Amended · Pub. L. 114-94 · 129 Stat. 1713
- 2021Amended · Pub. L. 117-58 · 135 Stat. 826
A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by Pub. L. 103-272 on 1994-07-05.
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